Life is a Road (I Want to Keep Going)
by Wednesday Thunder
Summary: Written for the Kurtbastian BigBang 2012/2013. During the summer before Kurt is off to New York, he finds himself alone in his house while Burt and Carole are in Canada of all places. But a broken windscreen, an unwanted conversation and three phone calls later, Kurt is suddenly sitting in Sebastian Smythe's old (but admittedly well-kept) SAAB, on his way to Ottawa, Canada, via NY
1. Prologue

**Title: **Life is a Road (I Want to Keep Going)

**Artist:** hummelsmythes (on LJ)  
**Fanart link:** art/Life-is-a-Road-I-Want-to-Keep-Going-KBB-art-348585769

**Word count:** 44 400~**  
**

**Warnings: **Mature content

**Fanmix:**  
_Theme Song:_ At the Beginning - Richard Marx and Donna Lewis  
_Kickass Roadtrip Soundtrack:_ Highway to Hell - ACDC  
_Sebastian's Noise:_ Ashamed - MUSE  
_Sebastian's Song:_ Non, je ne regrette rien - Edith Piaf  
_Night in New York:_ We are Young - Fun

So. I'll spare you all a butt-arse long A/N right now; expect it at the end of the fic ;)

(this story can also be found on AO3, Livejournal and if you prefer)

* * *

**Prologue**

He didn't know it, but he was stuck at a railway station. Stuck in the same pattern, in the same spot, never moving forward, unable to go back. He didn't really mind though because he had absolutely everything, according to him. But another would say that he was ignorant of what he was missing.

The world that he had built up around him was neither safe nor sustainable, but he ignored all signs that it was falling apart, and never once did he admit how much he wished for a train to come, to take him away from here. He was desperately waiting, but he was never one to embrace change, even if it was as minor as night turning into day, and he sure was not going to go look for it himself. There would be no looking for a bus or a cab or even an aeroplane that would take him away because he didn't know where he was going, didn't know if he _wanted _to be going.

What he needed –– now that was a different matter altogether. Another would say that what he needed was a kick in the arse, so that he could get up and fucking walk down beside the railway himself, that he was a lazy little fucktard who needed get into his head that there's always a way. Always a road that led somewhere. He would respond that he could go wherever he wanted if he _wanted to_, but he didn't, so he wouldn't.

Perhaps, what he really needed and wanted was for someone to walk beside him.


	2. Chapter 1

"_They key to any relationship is how well you can stand the other, and how well he or she can stand you."_

His dad told him that once. He didn't really remember when or why, but he did know that he didn't get it. Kurt knew that he had a very romanticised idea of how a relationship should be, and he most certainly couldn't find anything wrong with that by the way, but he didn't like how his dad made romance sound like. Like it was about simply being able to share a house or a family and avoiding to get on each other's nerves rather than _being in love_. And after all the talk about not throwing yourself around, about mattering, it seemed too hypocritical to take the most beautiful thing on earth and turn it into something as ordinary as simply being able to _stand_ one another, like forcing yourself into settling for an emotionless partnership just because you _work well_ together.

Nevertheless, the sentence had stuck with Kurt, built a little nest in the back on his brain and liked to come out and haunt him when _he did not want to hear it_. It was his personal poltergeist. And furthermore, it felt like these words became the very foundation on which rested his father's approval of any relationship Kurt might have.

That's why he had been thrilled when he finally had made it with Blaine. Not only was he madly in love the other boy, but he really thought that they fitted very well together –– that they could stand each other until the end of time, and that Burt would approve of it. And Burt liked Blaine, so there was no problem there, and Kurt had been ecstatic.

But perhaps it was just because it was so goddamn perfect that their relationship ended the way it did. Kurt didn't like to talk about it. He and Blaine had parted under rather good terms, and they didn't hate each other with every part of their souls. But things were tense, and all his friends were walking on eggshells around him, even Puck, which was really saying something. And Kurt didn't possess the energy to go over and over and over the reasons as to _why_ and _how_ things had broken off with all his friends, nor was he interested in analysing absolutely everything. So he had simply dropped the bomb that he and Blaine had broken up to Rachel, Finn and Puck who had happened to be there as well and waited for the word to spread.

If Rachel wasn't very pleased with the way he was dealing with the break up, she'd never said it. But he could tell. She had expected a river of tears, long nights with junk food and musicals and sad films that only existed for everyone to bring out their inner masochist. So, when he had instead completely refused to talk about it more than what was absolutely necessary, Rachel was left with her own erroneous conclusions: her best friend was in denial, depressed and so on, and that's why he was acting in such an odd way.

If anything, the general reaction that he got from those around him, with their pity and hugs and sad smiles, made him close off even more. He just wished to move on and get on with life, but it was not himself but everyone else who were holding him back. It was perhaps partly because of that, along with other things, that drew him into Puck's company. Because Puck did actually know better than to ask if everything was okay all the fucking time, he knew how to make Kurt take his mind off of things and just have fun, although his ways were sometimes a bit too unorthodox for Kurt's liking, and he was actually a really good friend deep down. And he had been the one to lend Kurt his shoulder without a word the time that Kurt actually _had_ cried. He also told Finn to not tell Rachel about it, which Kurt was endlessly grateful for.

But while Kurt and Noah had gone from semi-friends to actual close friends during the first half of the summer, there _were limits_ of what Kurt was willing to put up with.

"But _come on, Kurt_," Puck whined, as he sat back down across the table, placing a cup with non-fat mocha right in front him. But no, Kurt would _not_ let himself soften even a little. He was furious.

"You can't stay mad at me forever."

"I can try," Kurt snapped back, looking at everything in the Lima Bean except Puck because he knew it would annoy him.

"I've already said I'm sorry! I promised I'll drive you everywhere until it's fixed and that I'll cover all the costs. I even bought you coffee –– what more can you ask of me?!"

"That you learn how to drive a car properly?" Kurt raised an eyebrow and eyed Noah critically.

The other boy groaned loudly, and Kurt enjoyed the small victory. He knew that Noah hated it when he threw a bitchy fit, and it was all part of Kurt revenge for what Noah had done to his beloved baby.

"For the last time, Kurt, it was an accident!"

"... that you could have prevented if you had known how to drive."

Puck signed and visibly admitted defeat, retreating to his Coke, and Kurt allowed himself a small smile now that Puck wasn't watching.

Puck had begged for days and weeks from the beginning of the summer to drive Kurt's car, just once, but Kurt had always said no. No one was allowed behind the steering wheel of his baby, with the exception of his dad who had:

1) given him the car and

2) taught him how to drive and, therefore, was the one to set Kurt's standards.

But Kurt had eventually given in to Noah's pleading, and after a lot of lecturing and setting some ground rules he had handed Puck the keys so that he could go for a short drive. Trust Puckerman to bust his windscreen.

To be fair though, it wasn't Puck's fault _per se_, since he didn't actually bust it. But what he did do was that he had driven too close to another car on a highway that had a trailer filled with gravel and stone and, _of course,_ had a stone broken free, and just when Puck was going to drive past, it had hit the windscreen. Kurt had had a not completely random flashback to when Mercedes busted his window when Puck had come back, and he saw the gaping hole in his baby. He hadn't been able to breathe for a moment, his airways cut off, and he had known that he was gaping, but _there was a hole in his baby_.

Feeling that he had absolutely no control over the emotional storm that was taking place within him, he had cut Puck off, taking the keys to his car before telling Puck to get out of his sight _now_ or he wouldn't be held responsible for his actions. Puck had gotten the hint and quickly disappeared. Thankfully, the house was empty; Finn being in New York with Rachel and helping her to settle in, and Burt and Carole being in Ottawa, Canada, of all places because of Burt's job. So Kurt was free to do whatever he bloody wanted, which involved cursing like never before and baking chocolate muffins that he wouldn't have to share with anyone but himself. Cooking generally took his mind of things in a most pleasant way, the result always ending up deliciously, but he did actually mind when Finn or Puck or even if father would eat most of whatever he had made. And yes, that made him sound greedy, at least in his own mind, but to watch food that took hours to prepare disappear within minutes and having Finn hanging over him as soon as he walked into the kitchen was not very therapeutic. It made him feel like a servant.

Puck had come over the next day to test the waters, and Kurt didn't realize just how angry he _still_ was until he saw Puck's stupid face. Granted, it wasn't _just _the car that had still kept him mad, it was half a summer of suppressed aggression against just about everyone he knew that made him lash out on Puck. He didn't feel too bad about it though because he knew that Puck could take it, and Puck did need to learn to be careful when you borrow other people's things. Plus, it was kind of fun to see Puck grovel before him.

Puck looked up at him again, undoubtedly to try to ease his way with Kurt again, but the words never made it through his mouth, as he was interrupted by another drawl.

"Well, well, isn't it old Betty White. Where's your other half, or did he run out on you when he found out what you're going out with the Mohawk when no one's looking?" Sebastian Smythe was suddenly in his eyesight. Kurt found it rather appropriate since he was now given the chance to take his anger out on someone he didn't give a fuck about. So he simply glared at Sebastian, watching the hesitation flicker through Sebastian's features for a second before the meerkat smirk slipped back.

"You should keep that mouth shut, or flies might move in," he snapped.

"Woho, who got your panties in a twist?" Sebastian's smirk was taking offensive to new heights.  
"I don't know, I don't see another horse face, except yours."

"Are you saying that my face is annoying you?"

"I would say that your presence is annoying me, but I think it would do nothing good for the world to boost your ego with the fact that I found you annoying."

"You should come down from that high throne that you're sitting on and realize that I really don't care what you think of me, gay face."

"It was you and not I who started this conversation, Meerkat."

"While as true as that might be, I didn't do it because of my sudden longing to rile you up. Okay, maybe a little. But mostly I just wanted to ask you if you were adopted."

"And why would you even think that I was adopted when I was little?" This conversation was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

"Oh, I just reckoned that it was the most likely possibility since my father seems to think rather well of yours, and for that to be possible you obviously can't share the same genetics."

Okay, now he had really managed piss Kurt off. He saw red.

And it was apparently showing, too, because Puck who had watched the whole thing quietly stepped in. "Listen here, Preppy," he said, successfully getting Sebastian's attention. "Kurt might not believe in violence, but trust me when I say that if you don't shut your trap soon, I'll be making sure that no one will find your body after I'm through with you. So back off."

Although Puck could indeed appear intimidating (just like now), Sebastian merely kept on smirking. "Well, hopefully I'll never see you again. Egghead, Betty." And with that Sebastian turned and walked away, leaving Kurt more annoyed than before. Just _what_ had he been on about?

Puck almost immediately tried to make him think of other things than smirky meerkats and holes in windscreens, by starting to talk about all the great things that you get from watching horror films.  
"I'm not watching horror with you, Puckerman," Kurt deadpanned. "Besides, a trusted source, a.k.a. one bottle blond nerd we all know and love, informed me that your taste in horror is merely splatter films, and if I am ever to watch a horror film, I'm gonna go with _good_ one."

"You're being too picky, Princess."


	3. Chapter 2

Later that night, Kurt received his daily phone call from his dad. It was a system that they had agreed on to keep them from drifting apart and to make sure that their closeness would not fade away with time and distance, one important bit after another. However, Kurt had still decided against telling his dad about the windscreen. He knew that it would only make Burt upset, and he kind of feared that his father would take his car away, like he did last time. He also knew that he could fix it before Burt got back. The only backside was that he had to order a new windscreen, and it wouldn't arrive for about a week, so he had to depend on Puck until then. At least, the guys at the shop had agreed to leave their boss in the dark about the window, much to Kurt's relief.

But there were, of course, other things that Kurt and his dad could talk about.

"So, how's it going up there?" Kurt asked, sitting down in the living room, the TV screen flickering but on mute.

"It's a damn nightmare, to be honest," Burt said. "Trying to negotiate durable terms, so that we can take this artist home. It's even harder to ensure her safety once she gets home."

"But isn't it the attorney's job to negotiate?"

The reason why not only Burt but also Carole were up in Ottawa was because of a rather big event that the news had talked a lot about. Apparently, there was an artist, a real one who made art, named Karen Brooks, who had, according to some people, mocked and profaned the Holy Bible and God's words. According to her, she had simply questioned society and the way to interpret Christianity and evolution. From what Burt Hummel could tell, she had painted Adam and Eve as apes. Tomato, tomahto. But she had, no matter what, received a very negative response from various Christian churches in the country and had been threatened to death to such an extent that she had fled to Canada where she received help. And since she came from Ohio, the 4th congressional district to be exact, it was Burt's duty to bring her back safely, together with the state attorney and a representative from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress.

"Yes, but we all try to help him, and I do have a responsibility myself, AND I have to be the public spokesperson for some reason." Burt snorted on the other end, and Kurt chuckled a little.

"Yes, well, that's what you signed up for when you took the job."

"I know, but I just think that everyone is being childish. Apparently, I have to rephrase that, so that it sounds better, but the message being all the same."

"Sounds like fun." There was a moment of silence where Kurt thought back to his encounter with Sebastian earlier. The conversation was still nagging at the back of his mind, so before he could second guess himself, he decided to ask. "By the way," he started off, his voice coming out a brighter than he wanted it to, "Noah and I happened to run into Sebastian Smythe today at the Lima Bean, and he said something that I didn't really get about you."

"Oh?" was all Burt said.

"He asked me if I was adopted because, apparently, his dad had high thoughts about you, which in Sebastian's world translates into sheer impossibility of us being actually related."

Burt was silent, and Kurt didn't know what else to say, so he just waited, watching a muted commercial about shampoo on the TV.

"Well," Burt suddenly said, making Kurt jump a little. "I work with his dad, Liam Smythe that is, here in Ottawa. He's the state attorney."

Kurt suddenly remembered Sebastian bragging about his powerful dad some time ago, and for once he realized that it wasn't perhaps the smartest thing to ignore about half of all the things that came out of the meerkat's mouth. He couldn't help his bullshit filter.

"Ah, okay. So his dad is all right then?" Kurt asked carefully.

"Yes, Liam's a great attorney and very friendly, actually. Though I was a bit unsure about him in the beginning, but he proved me wrong."

"That's nice." Kurt didn't quite know what to believe. Apparently, Sebastian's dad was nice. Kurt knew that Burt wouldn't just say something like that, especially about someone whose son Kurt knew, without meaning it. Which meant that it was most likely true. And furthermore, it meant that Sebastian had been talking to his dad about Burt, and Kurt felt oddly protective over his father and whatever influence Sebastian might have on him.

Which was all ridiculous really. But Kurt had a bad feeling about it all, and no matter how much he tried for the next couple of days, he couldn't shake it off. Little did he know just how legitimate and well grounded his forebodings actually were...


	4. Chapter 3

As the days went, Kurt got to hear a lot about the Ottawa case progress. It seemed to be running smoothly, and he was left with sitting around and worrying his arse off about the windscreen that had yet to arrive. It had been just about six days since the stone hit the glass, and Kurt was half panicking about not being able to fix it until Burt came back. His dad had been granted some vacation after he was done in Canada, due to the fact that he had been sent to Canada and had to remain there for quite some time. To Kurt, it only meant that Burt would come straight home and notice the car, once the case came to a close. So, the younger Hummel had every right to be freaked out about the windscreen.

About a week after Puck had drove his car and six days since the encounter with one meerkat, Kurt received a call from his dad in the early afternoon. It was a little odd, since Burt had usually called him after dinner at the end of his work day. It all made Kurt a little uneasy, and he asked Puck to pause the film that they were watching, as he answered.

"Hi, dad, finished early today?"

"You bet. The case is closed!" Burt sounded so happy and pleased on the other side of the phone, but Kurt felt his stomach drop at the words. Fuck.

"R–really?" he stuttered, but Burt didn't seem to take notice of it.

"Yes! I just got a press-conference tomorrow, and then I'm a free man!"

"Well, that's great, dad." Kurt managed, despite his panic, to keep his voice steady. He really was a great actor, he thought distractedly.

"Yeah, it's all over, finally. And Kurt," Burt began, "Carole and I have been talking a little with Liam and his wife –– we live in the same hotel and all that, eaten dinner together most nights actually –– and none of us has actually been in Canada until now. And Liam was also granted to take out some of his vacation after this, so we've all agreed that it's a shame to be here and only ever get to see the inside of a courtroom."

"So you're gonna stay in Ottawa for a while?" Kurt asked hesitatingly, and Puck, who had up till then played a game on his phone, gave Kurt a questioning look. Kurt held up a finger as to say that he would tell Puck later, and, thankfully, the other boy kept quiet.

"That was the idea, yeah," Burt confirmed, and Kurt mentally fist-pumped (something that he, most likely, become accustomed to because of Noah), seeing how now he would have time to fix the window before his dad got home.

"But," Burt continued, "I'd like for you and Finn to come up here, so that we all can see Canada together. You've never been abroad before, and neither has Finn, and you'll soon be off to New York anyway, so a little holiday wouldn't be so bad, huh?"

"I guess not," Kurt agreed, his mind going 300 miles per hour, trying to figure out how to fix the windscreen while being in Canada. "Should I book train or aeroplane tickets?" He could probably ask one of the guys to do it for him while he was away, since the windscreen was to be delivered to the shop anyway. Yeah, that could work.

"Well, that's the thing." The tone in his father's voice made him uneasy, and Kurt stopped trying to work out his car problem, subconsciously knowing that Burt's next words would be very important, and that he wouldn't like it. "The four of us up here have decided that we want all of our boys to be here, and that means that Sebastian is going to be here, too. And all of us are fully aware of the drama between you, Finn and him, and we want to make sure that the three of you will have made some kind of truce before you get here."

It felt like he had stopped breathing for a moment; like he was standing in the headlight of a car, knowing that it was going to hit him any second, but he was incapable of moving, momentarily paralysed.

"So we decided that you three are going to drive here, together." Bam! And there came the car and hit him right in his guts.

"What?!" Kurt exclaimed into the phone, sitting up straight and making Puck jump at his sudden movement.

"Take it easy, son," his dad tried, but Kurt was having none of it.

"I don't want to see that bastard, and I will most certainly not sit in the same car as him!"

"Now listen, Kurt," Burt said sternly. "I know that Sebastian have been a jerk to you, but his parents are really nice people, and I believe them when they say that their son can be nice. And if someone can make people earn their second chances, it would be you, wouldn't it? I mean, look at Karofsky: you forgave him when no one else would, and you turned out to be right."

Kurt made a non-committable sound in the back of his throat. His dad was playing dirty.

"Look, Kurt," Burt sighed. "I think that you actually need this. You're gonna have to work with people whom you don't like anywhere you go, and I think this will be good for both you and Finn. And maybe Sebastian, too."

Kurt took a deep breath. He wasn't winning this one, and Burt was well aware of it.

"I can't guarantee that I won't kill him, though. And God only knows what Finn will do, seeing how I don't have full control of him either."

Burt chuckled on the other end, and Kurt rolled his eyes, taking advantage of the fact that Burt couldn't see him.

"It'll be fine, Kurt," Burt assured. "You'll just have to drive to New York and pick up Finn; that's one day. And then you can stay at your and Rachel's apartment over the night and take the remaining miles the next day. Or, you know, stay in New York for another day if you feel like it. There's no hurry. But my point is that you're making it sound worse than this whole thing actually is."

"I'm making it sound exactly as dreadful as it is."

"Kurt," Burt warned, and Kurt sighed.

"Okay, but, er –– his parents are telling him about this, right? And Carole is telling Finn?"

"Yep."

"And do you have a certain day that you want us there or a date when we're gonna go or something?"

"Well, we were hoping that you'd accept this and be on your way in about, I don't know, two days or so? It's Sunday now, so Wednesday? That's what Liam is telling Sebastian anyway, and Carole is just making sure that Finn will get into the car because I trust that you and Rachel will do most of his packing anyway."

Kurt smiled a little at that. "I guess," he said. "Is Carole talking to him right now?"

"Yes."

"How's it going?"

"I honestly don't know. I went outside, so she could talk to him, so that if she has to shout you wouldn't hear it."

"Ah." Kurt could picture Finn's rage right now, and he realized that he felt sorry for Rachel more than Carole. The poor girl had to live with him until he and Sebastian (oh my God, no, there was no "he and Sebastian") came to pick him up. He was suddenly glad that he had stayed in Lima when Rachel and Finn had buggered off to New York. "I'll guess I'll talk to you tomorrow then?" he asked.

"That would be nice, yes."

"Bye dad, love you."

"Love you too, Kiddo." And after that he hung up.

Puck, who had been watching him in silence the whole time, attacked him as Kurt put the phone down.  
"What the hell happened, man?" he demanded.

Kurt groaned, his face falling into his hands. "Dad is making me drive all the way to Ottawa with Sebastian Smythe."

"Are you shitting me?" Puck exclaimed, and Kurt was kind of touched by the other boy's reaction. He couldn't sum it up any better.

"I wish." Kurt groaned and threw his head back onto the sofa. "What have I possibly done to deserve this?" he asked no one in particular.

Puck looked like he was about to start offering suggestions, but Kurt's ireful glare silenced him effectively.

"Just press play, Noah."


	5. Chapter 4

Monday passed without a word from Sebastian. Not that Kurt was waiting for him to call or anything, but he knew that they would have to talk, so they could organize this nightmare. And Kurt was not about to call Sebastian himself, oh no, he was far too stubborn to do something like that. But as Tuesday dawned, he felt the panic starting to creep up. Kurt had already talked to the guys at the shop and got that whole mess sorted out (he and Dan, who was second in command under Burt, had both agreed on that keeping Burt in the dark would probably be for the best).

He managed to avoid looking up Sebastian's number all morning, and by noon he was starting to get anxious. Just as he was about to pull out his laptop and get it over with, his phone started ringing, and he nearly jumped out of his pants.

Heart pounding, Kurt looked at the screen only to find that it was Rachel. Of course.

He barely had time to say hello before Rachel walked over him.

"I'm coming with you to Canada," she declared, as if it was a proper way of greeting.

"What?"

"I can't possibly let Finn go to a different country without me! And you're gonna need me if you're going there with Sebastian!"

"I don't really think it'll be necessary, Rachel," he tried.

"No. I made up my mind, and I've talked to Carole, and she agreed."

"You've –– " Kurt trailed off. "And what does Finn think of all this?"

Rachel hesitated, and it was all it took for Kurt to move on. "Put him on the phone," he demanded.

"I don't think..." she began.

"Put him on the phone, Rachel."

"... fine."

He heard how Rachel moved and a distant conversation between her and Finn.

"Kurt wants to talk to you," she said, and he couldn't quite make out Finn's reply before he spoke into his ear.

"Hi dude."

"Don't call me dude," he said automatically.

"Sorry."

"Is Rachel still there?" he asked.

"Yeah." Kurt imagined how she was standing in front of Finn, wanting to catch every word, and he let out a sigh.

"Okay, well lock yourself in the bathroom and talk really quiet."

"Okay."

Kurt listened to Finn moving around the apartment and then closing and locking the door to the bathroom.

"Okay, the coast is clear," Finn said. 'Okay' seemed to be the word of the hour Kurt thought dully.

"Do you want Rachel to come with us?" Kurt asked, getting right to the point.

"Well Rachel said –– "

"I didn't ask what Rachel said. I want to know what you want, Finn. Because you have a say in this, you know."

"I, I don't know, Kurt."

"It's fine, you don't have to know. If you want her with you then that's okay. But if you don't, then you shouldn't. She'll be there for you after all."

Finn sighed gratefully and Kurt smiled. He was glad that he could talk to Finn like this.

"Thanks dude –– oh sorry," he said before his step-brother could correct him, and Kurt couldn't keep a smile off his face.

"You really need to find something else to call me since you insist that my actual name don't cut it."

"Yeah..."

Kurt chuckled. "I challenge you to come up with something better until we get to Ottawa, Finn," he said solemnly.

"It's a deal," Finn answered, equally amused.

"And think about what you want to do with Rachel until Wednesday."

"Sure," Finn promised. "By the way, I think she'll want to speak to you again..."

"Fine, I can handle her."

Once again he heard Finn moving around, and Kurt was willing to bet the absolutely gorgeous Doc Martins he was currently wearing that Rachel was standing on the other end of the bathroom door. The fact that it took about five seconds from Finn to start moving to Rachel speaking into his ear confirmed his theory.

"Hey Kurt!" she greeted overly happy in the way she always seemed to do when she wanted to hide something.

"Funny how you greet me properly, oh I don't know, ten minutes after you called me?"

"Kurt..."

"I'm not mad at you, Rachel."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I'll see you on Thursday."

"Are you really gonna drive all the way here with Sebastian?" she asked quietly.

"I don't have much of a choice now, have I?" Kurt sighed. "I'll just have to live through it. At least, I think he's just as reluctant as I am."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because it's half past one, and I still haven't heard a single word from him."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna be the mature one and call him, for goodness' sake."

"Wow. Well if anyone can handle Sebastian, it would be you, huh?"

"I guess."

"See you on Thursday then!"

"Yeah, bye."

"Good bye, Kurt, have a safe trip!"

Kurt hung up and signed to himself. He looked at the laptop in front of him, as he sat alone by the kitchen table. He just needed to bite the bullet and get it over with, he told himself and turned the laptop on. After about three minutes of searching, he found the meerkat's number at one of those inquiry Web sites. Reluctantly, he pressed the number into his phone, saving it under a new contact (he was probably going to need it more than once, Kurt concluded) before he pressed the green button to place a call. As he was waiting for the slutty meerkat to pick up, he thought that he could just have sent a text instead of calling the damn boy, but he still decided to go with the most direct approach because once Sebastian answered, he wouldn't be able to sneak away.

He waited for a long time and soon he gave up any hope that Sebastian would actually answer and were just waiting for the voicemail really.

"Hello?" an annoyed drawl suddenly greeted him.

"Hi Sebastian, it's Kurt."

There was a moment of silence, and it sounded like Sebastian was outside because the wind was blowing into the speakers.

"And what could you possibly want?" Sebastian then asked, and Kurt was forever thankful that he couldn't see him because he got a sudden urge to punch the other boy in his stupid face. Oh well, thank God for technology.

"You know very well what I want to talk about. We need to get organized because our parents expect us to be off tomorrow."

"What's there to organize? It's just jump in a car, hit the motorway to New York and then Ottawa. I believe the government has blessed us all with signs."

"And who's car will we be taking then? And do you have an idea of how long it'll take so we know when to start driving? And oh, before I forget. you'll have to bring your own linens for when we stay the night in New York cause you'll be sleeping on the couch."

"I will not sleep on anyone's couch, especially not yours. I'll just check into a hotel over the night and leave you with your retarted brother and his annoying fiancée."

"Mhm, you tell your father that, and we'll see how that works out for you," Kurt deadpanned.

Sebastian went quiet on the other side of the line, and Kurt grinned evilly in triumph. It's not like anyone could see him anyhow...

"And we'll be taking your car, by the way," he continued when Sebastian wasn't saying anything.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because my car isn't attainable at the moment. I'm willing to compromise and take out the whole rout and make up a timetable for us."

"'A timetable'? You gotta be kidding me, do you plan everything in your life?"

"No. I just like to keep things organized, and it is more convenient for Finn and Rachel to know when we'll be arriving."

"So give them a call when we get close, we live in the 21st century, for Pete's sake."

It was kind of odd, and Kurt didn't think Sebastian realized it, but they had already started to make themselves a 'we'. Like there were a 'them' in this universe. But the most abstract thing of it all was probably how it had come so naturally –– one minute they were riling each other up, and the next there was this 'we' between them.

"How did you get my number, by the way?" Sebastian asked, pulling Kurt away from his thoughts.

"Oh, I think you've heard of it actually. It's this amazing thing called the World Wide Web. Frequently used here in the 21st century, I believe."

"Ha fucking ha, very clever, Hummel."

"I'm glad you think so too," Kurt said, ignoring obvious Sebastian's sarcasm. "As for that timetable, according to Google Maps it'll take ten to eleven hours to drive all the way to New York if we take the I-80 E."

"You really are a control freak, aren't you?"

"I am most certainly not. I think that if we're gonna take all that in one day we'll have to do it in shifts because no one should drive for ten hours straight and I don't want to die, thank you very much."

"Well, can you drive a manual, Princess, or did you solemnly learn to drive an automatic?"

Kurt had to bite his lip to prevent himself for saying something that he would regret, but Sebastian's patronizing tone was pissing him off. "Yes, I can," he snapped.

He couldn't see it, but he was willing to bet that Sebastian was smirking on the other end. He did not like it.

"I think I'd like to see that."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night. Pick me up at six a.m. tomorrow. I'll text you the address."

"What if I'm late?"

"Then I'll just have to shave your head while you're sleeping, don't I, Sebastian?" he said oh so sweetly.

"I'd sue you if you did that."

"Please, like I'd leave any evidence that it was me."

"Yeah, yeah. Go and pack your lady clothes."

"And don't you forget the linens." With that Sebastian hung up, and Kurt groaned out loud. How the fuck was he expected to stand that chipmunk? He seriously questioned his father's thinking.


	6. Chapter 5

After the less than pleasant talk with Sebastian, Kurt started to pack. His father had yet to give him an idea of how long they were actually staying, and he kind of freaked out trying to choose a proper bag. Kurt wouldn't say it, but he was in fact very grateful when Puck came around by 3:30 and pointed out that in the worst case scenario the Canadians had dry-cleaners too.

He helped Kurt pack in his own way (mostly by stopping the smaller boy from taking his whole closet with him), and after he was done, they drove to the mall, so that Kurt could load up with skin care products and magazines (because he needed a distraction at that nightmare of a trip). Noah also insisted on staying the night once they got back.

"Come on, Princess. You're gonna leave me all alone and go on your gay trip to the weirdos in mounties, so give me tonight."

"You just want an excuse to get free food and cuddle," Kurt pointed out, and Puck raised his hands in mock defeat.

"Guilty as charged, now let me stay."

Kurt finally agreed on the conditions that Puck wouldn't complain when they watched Wicked and that he would get up with Kurt at 5 a.m. without arguing.

And that was more or less the backstory to how Kurt Hummel woke up lying on top of Noah Puckerman on the couch in the livingroom at too-freaking-early o'clock in the morning. His phone was ringing its alarm tone, and Kurt groaned, getting up and turning the alarm off. Puck did not make a good bed judging by how his back was hurting, he concluded.

"Why did you let me fall asleep here?" he snapped at the boy on the couch who was trying to keep his word and get up.

"You looked too cute when you drifted off, and like I was about to sacrifice precious cuddle time."

"If you ever let it happen again, I'll let the world know just what a cuddle whore you are, Puckerman."

Noah's eyes flew up at that, and he started at Kurt. "You wouldn't," he said.

"Oh I would, and you know it. Now go and put on the coffee, I need to fix myself."

"So bossy," he heard Noah mumble, as he went up the stairs, but Kurt chose to not comment on it. It was too early in the morning for something like that. He went into the bathroom and took a quick shower because he felt disgusting after waking up on top of Noah, then he changed into the travel clothes that he had put together yesterday. His shoes had a zip so that he could easily kick them off if he felt like it in the car, a pair of skin-tight green trousers together with a nice shirt and a vest that went with it. To top it off, he had a fabulous scarf that he wore proudly. He fixed his hair and finished the first part of his routine, then went downstairs again, hoping for a decent cup of coffee with his name on it.

The coffee machine was on when he came down to kitchen, and Puck was sitting on the counter, looking just as dead as Kurt felt. While he usually believed in a steady breakfast to help him through the day, it was way too early to eat anything, really. So cornflakes it was, in all its simplicity. He offered a bowl to Noah as well, and they ate quietly, only stopping to pour some coffee when it was done in Kurt's case. Noah didn't drink coffee, and Kurt didn't feel like making him hot chocolate at the moment.

At a quarter to six, Kurt went upstairs again to brush his teeth after he made Noah wash the dishes. He looked at himself in the mirror; the hints under his eyes that he hadn't slept well that night, what with the far too pale skin for this time of the summer and a pimple that was about to break out just beneath his jaw even after his kickass skincare routine. He thought about declaring war against it right now, but ultimately decided against it –– the usurper would have to wait until the evening when he could engage in battle properly.

With a sigh, he finally looked away and packed his tooth brush down before going downstairs with the big suitcase that contained his clothes, shoes, products and a mini tool box because one could never be too careful. On his shoulder hung his messenger bag with some magazines, his wallet and other things that he might want to have right beside him (like a spray bottle full of water that he could use on Sebastian when he is at his most annoying, pity he hadn't packed one of those). Puck was waiting for him by the foot of the stairs and took the suitcase from him when he reached the last steps and placed it right beside the door. Normally, Kurt would have protested and claimed that he could do it himself thankyouverymuch, but he knew that this was Puck's way of telling him that he was going to miss him and that he wished that Kurt would have a nice trip despite it all. It was sweet gesture really, so Kurt accepted it and tried to smile like he wasn't about to hit the highway to hell even though it certainly felt like it.

"I guess we can go wait outside, huh?" Puck asked, looking around in the hallway like he had no idea where to go.

Kurt checked the time, five minutes left, before opening the door and walking outside. Puck followed, taking the bag with him, and Kurt looked down the hallway one last time before shutting the door and locking it. It felt like he was saying goodbye to the house even though he knew that he would be back in two weeks or so. But at his homecoming, how would he differ from the unsure boy who was collecting himself at the moment, shoving all of his insecurities under Kurt Hummel's renowned Bitch-Please mask?

Noah had already taken a seat on the stairs of the porch, and after a moment of hesitation, Kurt sat down beside him. Like it was the most natural thing in the world, Noah's arm found its way around Kurt's shoulders, and Kurt's head to Noah's shoulder. Perhaps, it wasn't that unusual after all –– Puck was really one big cuddly bear in heart, and Kurt would be a fool if he didn't use this to his own advantage.

"I'll miss you too, Noah," he said quietly because even though Noah hadn't said anything, Kurt was certain that he was thinking it. And sure enough, Puck tensed for a moment before relaxing once more and tightening his embrace which became a one-sided hug in the end.

"Of course you will, I'm awesome."

Kurt laughed, trying to think about anything but the journey that he really didn't want to take ahead of him. Like how even though it was one minute to six it was already bright outside, the sky only blue on one side of the sky, while the west side was yellow and red and kind of peach-coloured, so warm and comforting. It felt like it was one big fat lie to Kurt, false comfort and a broken promise, so he looked away, observing the blue sky instead which would continue to be blue no matter what. Then he heard the sound of a car, and he looked at his watch; yes, it was six o'clock now, so that had to be Sebastian if the meerkat knew what was good for him. But when he looked at the car, it wasn't anything near what he thought Sebastian would be driving.

It was a SAAB, nothing weird in that, but it was an old SAAB. A really old one in fact, but well kept and beautiful with its blue colour and shiny rims. Kurt's first thought was that Finn would be suffering endlessly in the backseat of that car, being the tall boy his brother was.

"What kind of a car is that?" Puck asked beside him, as they both sat up straight.

"Can't tell which model, but it's definitely a SAAB," he answered. As much of a man Puck tried to be, his knowledge in cars was as grand as his knowledge in shoes, and Kurt doubted that he knew about the brand even though it was rather known. But whatever, there were more important things in life, like the devil that stepped out of the car and how Kurt really couldn't take that smirk at this hour.

Sebastian looked like he was about to say something, but Puck shot up from the stairs, dragging Kurt's suitcase after him, and went straight up to Sebastian.

"Listen, Preppy, because I'm only gonna say this once," Puck said, his voice rather quiet but loud enough for Kurt to hear, as he walked up to the two. "If I hear that you've tried to pull something on Kurt while you're away, even if it was Finn who told me about it, I will end you. Got it?"

Sebastian's smirk did flatter for a second, but it happened so quick that it could just have been an imagination, and Puck wasn't likely to pick it up. Kurt, however, noticed.

"Don't worry, I won't harm your precious little boyfriend," Sebastian drawled, and Kurt felt like pointing out that he wasn't little, Sebastian had merely an inch on him or so, and that he could shove that smirk of his somewhere where the sun didn't shine. Not to lower himself to the slutty meerkat's level, Kurt managed to restrain himself and rolled his eyes instead.

"Just open the trunk, Smythe," he said evenly and took his suitcase out of Puck's hand since the other boy seemed to be wrapped up in trying to stare Sebastian down. It wasn't working though, big surprise, and Sebastian shot Noah one last amused look before reaching for a lever beside the seat which made the trunk open. Kurt heaved his suitcase inside, placing it beside a smaller, but expensive looking bag that was probably full of underwear, socks and condoms. Oh, and lube.

With a sigh, Kurt looked away, shutting the trunk and mentally slapping himself. He really couldn't go into this with a attitude like that. Perhaps, Sebastian really just packed a nice suit like he himself did, along with some decent outfits and a book or two.

"See ya', Princess," Puck said, pulling him out of his thoughts, and Kurt turned to him, looking at the sad and defeated face that the jock wore. Or well, he wasn't really a jock anymore, even though he certainly fit the bill.

"Bye Noah." Kurt hugged him then, and Noah hugged back, warm and firm with strong arms and wide shoulders. It was a real promise of comfort, unlike the sunrise in the west that only promised to disappear, and Kurt held on tightly. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm away," he warned, but with a smile on his face as he pulled back.

"I can try, but I won't make any promises." Noah grinned back at him, and Kurt let out a chuckle. Oh goodness, he was going to miss Puck –– whatever would he do when he left for New York for good? Pushing the thought away, Kurt walked to the passenger seat, opening the door and giving Puck one last wave before going inside. Sebastian was already there, looking absolutely ready to get the hell out of Lima. And just like that, the soft sound of a purring engine filled the quiet summer morning, as the old SAAB took Kurt away from his home, his house and his friend.


	7. Chapter 6

Sebastian was blissfully quiet, as he pulled out from Kurt's street, and Kurt allowed himself a moment of blissful nothingness. Then he pulled out the road atlas that the Hummel-Hudson household had and in which he had looked up the best rout. Google Maps could be basking in all its honour, but he preferred a real atlas in his hands instead of low pixel printouts, stapled together and wrinkled five minutes after they were born. No thank you.

So after Sebastian turned away from Kurt's street and officially out of his safety zone, Kurt pulled up the atlas and flipped open the relevant pages which he'd marked beforehand.

"Turn left after the crossroad, and it'll lead you right to the motorway," he said, as he looked up from his atlas and found Sebastian shooting him a somewhere between cocky and annoyed look before he turned to the road again.

"I didn't realize you were such a control freak, Betty, yet you sit there with a book even."

"I like to be prepared just in case, that's all," Kurt snapped, slamming the book shut.

"Oh you like that? No surprise there really, I imagine you want it nice and slow with lit candles and love declarations too, huh?"

Nope, fuck it all, that bag in the trunk next to Kurt's was filled with nothing but pop collars and pornography. Kurt groaned tiredly and closed his eyes –– no coffee in the world could make him ready to deal with Sebastian. "Look, it's too early for you, can't you shut it for, oh I don't know, two hours or so? Then I can drive a little, and you can rest." He didn't open his eyes to see Sebastian make a decision, didn't want to see his stupid face more than needed.

"Sure," Sebastian said, and Kurt was honestly surprised that he would actually agree. "But only because I know that you'll keep your big mouth shut when you're sleeping." Ah.

"You're insufferable," Kurt muttered before turning his face the other way and trying to get some sleep.

The terrible thing was thought that when you oh so desperately want to sleep for whatever reason –– and you knew that you were tired –– your body refused to go with you. Kurt could feel how tired he was –– and goodness did sleep sound blissful –– yet he could not fall asleep. He heard the world passing by around him: the decks against the road and wind trying to slip through the doors and windows. Through his half-open eyes, he saw ugly buildings and a few trees. He felt the movements of the car through the hard and uncomfortable door frame where his head was resting. And he was too exhausted to let sleep overtake him.

His name wouldn't be Kurt Elizabeth Hummel if he were to give up though. Hell no. Even pretending to sleep was better than being awake and having to deal with his fellow traveller whom he was going to avoid talking to as much as possible –– for the sake of his sanity, or he might just kill Sebastian.

After about twenty minutes of utter failure to catch a wink, Kurt decided to give up, as his uncomfortable position had finally outweighed the fact that Sebastian was sitting next to him.

"Weren't you gonna sleep?" Sebastian asked, as soon as Kurt turned forward again.

"Couldn't. I suspect it was because I subconsciously don't trust you to drive properly," Kurt shot back almost lazily. He did glance over at Sebastian then, catching the amused little smirk on the otherwise tired face, and it felt somewhat less offensive when it was toned down like that. Almost.

"You sure are one paranoid gay, Betty," Sebastian said, and Kurt just rolled his eyes, feeling that they could go on all day like this, and he wasn't interested in that.

However, Sebastian seemed to be bored out of his mind and seriously begging for a fight, as he turned on the radio suddenly, making Kurt jump at the loud music that was suddenly blasting through the car.

"What's wrong with you?" Kurt snapped despite himself, and Sebastian shot him an indifferent look, as noise –– not music –– continued playing at a very high volume, nearly making him deaf.

"To state the obvious: I turned on the music."

"And it sounds absolutely terrible, turn it off."

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to, and it's good manners to be considerate of others, Sebastian."

"You didn't actually ask me, to be precise, and since when did you ever think that I'd be good mannered to you, Kurt?"

His tone was mocking and provoking, just like Sebastian himself, and Kurt clenched his fists. With an angry glance at the smirky meerkat, he then reached forward and turned the volume down because he simply couldn't hear himself think.

"Fine, be an arse," he snapped at Sebastian, "but you can at least keep it down, so that I don't have to listen to your crap."

Sebastian looked back at him then, a challenging glare to match Kurt's own until Sebastian had to look back at the road. It was the only obvious reason Sebastian would look away –– he wasn't the type of guy to back down on a challenge –– but Kurt still counted it as a victory. Feeling a bit smug, he turned down the music, so that it was almost bearable, and then dug up his phone and headphones to block out all that was Sebastian.

The shuffle of Kurt's phone gave him Macavity from Cats, and with a sideway glance at Sebastian he found it rather fitting.

* * *

The headphones; those white, boring, apple-headphones that you always got, were starting to chafe Kurt's ears, and he kind of wondered why he hadn't invested in a pair of good headphones that didn't threaten to fall out all the time. He looked at the digital clock on his phone to find it close to nine. His head hurt a little from listening to music for two and a half hours straight, and Kurt was starting to get bored of his shuffle anyway. He made a mental note to update this iTunes library once he got home again.

When he pulled the headphones out, he felt Sebastian's eyes on him, but didn't meet them and instead proceeded with rolling the white silicon cable neatly before putting it back in his bag. Sebastian was still listening to the nearly identical crap from two hours ago; however, the current song was a bit more attractive to Kurt. Not that he breathed a word about it.

In some way, he was rather thankful for the music, which covered the silence that would have otherwise existed. Music gave a reason not to talk, and really, let's be honest, what would the two of them talk about? What they were going to do once they got to Canada, maybe? Or their fathers' case, perhaps? Oh, how in the world did they end up in this situation in the first place?

Sure, the subjects above were good icebreakers if one wished to break the ice. But Kurt guessed that none of them really did. They had been forced into the presence of each other, were locked in a car together, and it was asked of them to get along. The circumstances had pushed them toward each other, and the only thing left to do was to live through it.

The car suddenly felt too small for Kurt. He needed to get out now.

"It's nine soon," he spoke up. "How about we stop by the next petrol station to take a breather and switch drivers?"

Kurt didn't know if it was he who hadn't noticed it before, or if Sebastian hadn't let it on, but suddenly the other boy looked very tired to him, like he too didn't get much sleep.

Sebastian shrugged. "Sure, why not."

They took the next exit, following the signboards which led them to a neat little petrol station. Sebastian didn't say much, as he parked the car and went directly into the store after turning the engine off. Kurt didn't question him in any way either, just watched him go and got out of the car himself. It was blissful to finally get out, more than he thought it had any right to be.

Kurt thought about whether to lean on the car (which was quite clean actually) and wait for Sebastian's return, so they would go to the men's room, but decided against it. He didn't want to risk ruining his clothes and most certainly not by being too lazy to simply stand. Besides, it would look like he waited for Sebastian, no matter if he leaned against the car's body, sat inside or stood outside the car with his eyes wandering around the station, so he might as well make the most of it.


	8. Chapter 7

About ten minutes later, Sebastian came back, holding one of those sandwiches that they sold on all the gas stops in his hands. Kurt raised an eyebrow in question at the sandwich, but Sebastian didn't offer an explanation, so Kurt announced that he was going to the restroom which earned him a shrug.

There were some other cars around them, a family with a mum and dad, and a girl and a boy in the store, the children eyeing the shelves with sweets with big eyes, and the parents asking if they wanted to go to the bathroom instead of just dragging them there –– even Kurt knew that they would request a loo the minute they got into the car again if they didn't go now. There was a trucker there too, a wide and tiny little man with a red flannel shirt and a black cap. He glared openly at Kurt when he walked past, his muddy eyes burning at the back of Kurt's head as he walked to the men's room, and an unsettling feeling dropped into Kurt's stomach. But he didn't spare the trucker a second glance, for he had long ago learned from his time in McKingley not to look back at everyone who stared at him. It was the easiest way to avoid an unpleasant encounter.

He wondered if the trucker had glared at Sebastian in a similar manner when he walked inside. Probably not, because Sebastian looked straight enough, even though he was quite the opposite. Not that he was envious of how easily Sebastian could walk around in public and be accepted wherever he went. Kurt was well aware that his choice of clothing and hairstyle was indeed flamboyant and that people would give him glares every now and then. It was a price he was willing to play: either that or suppressing his self and trying to be someone he's not. He couldn't do that, he was actually incapable of doing it –– his week as a butch some years ago was proof enough.

He thought about buying something for himself once he passed through the store once again. The trucker wasn't there anymore, and it was only the father and the daughter from the family. The little girl looked at Kurt curiously with big eyes, and Kurt smiled back at her. Her father didn't glare at him like the trucker had, but his body language was reluctant, so Kurt walked away.

Sebastian was leaning against the car eating his sandwich, not looking at Kurt as he walked up to the car, but instead at the red lorry that was pulling out from the parking lot. The merry trucker was most likely in there, Kurt thought.

"So, my turn to drive?" Kurt asked, more for the sake of getting a move on than for confirmation. Sebastian met his question with a shrug.

"Guess so," was all he said and then he pushed off the car, pulling the keys out of his back pocket. "Ruin my car, and I don't care what your bodyguard says: I will kill you."

The funny thing was that Kurt completely understood Sebastian at this moment. He got the meaning behind the threat and felt how Sebastian actually didn't want to hand over his car, maybe not only to Kurt, but to anyone really; nonetheless, he had to or else there would be a fuss about it. Both Kurt and Sebastian knew that. So Kurt took the keys and held onto them tightly, his eyes on Sebastian trying to say without words that he did get it. But Sebastian wasn't looking, instead he just walked right past Kurt and to the passenger side.

This was going to be a long road trip, Kurt thought for himself.

Once behind the steering wheel, Kurt adjusted the seat and mirrors, so that he was comfortable and had total control over his surroundings. Beside him, Sebastian moved the seat back and threw Kurt's messenger bag back into the back seat, much to Kurt's dismay.

"Be careful with other people's things, Sebastian," he snapped.

"Don't be such an annoying doryphore, or I might just start to scribble in your precious atlas," Sebastian shot back, just as Kurt turned the ignition. The engine growled but refused to start, which Kurt found odd, and he tried again, without any luck. He looked back at Sebastian who merely raised an eyebrow, silently saying that the car was working just fine until Kurt touched the wheel.

Third time's the charm, Kurt told himself and tried once more. Thankfully, the engine gave a soft purr as it started.

For being such an old car, Sebastian's SAAB had been treated well and answered Kurt's every move, going smooth and steady. Soon they were on the motorway again, going toward New York City.

They drove in complete silence for about twenty minutes or so; Kurt noticed Sebastian closing his eyes, but the other boy seemed to have the same problem with falling asleep, as Kurt had. He debated with himself if he should turn on the radio again when he noticed that Sebastian was giving up his attempt to sleep –– Kurt was the one driving and, therefore, the one in charge of the radio, but the device was an old and fragile-looking thing, and Kurt hazily wondered how it survived blasting out Sebastian's music. Also, if Kurt was to completely honest with himself, he had next to no clue how manage the old radio. He could figure it out through trial and error of course, but Sebastian was sitting wide awake right next to him and would undoubtedly observe, comment and file away Kurt's every move. There were no room for mistakes in this car if Kurt wished to get out of it alive.

But while the quiet could be soothing and was certainly a safe ground, it made Kurt uneasy. He didn't consider the atmosphere of unfamiliarity and obligation relaxing or comforting. More than anything, it put him on the edge, and for each mile that passed he felt the uncertainty spread like fire inside of him, making him wish oh so much that he knew exactly where Sebastian stood. Just what were Sebastian's thoughts about this trip; what did he think of them taking his car; what was going through his head right now? And finally, and perhaps most importantly, what did Sebastian think of him?

Objectively speaking, it shouldn't really matter all that much to Kurt what Sebastian thought of him –– if he was annoying or fun to rile up or simply irrelevant –– but it did. At least it had started to. For Kurt had up until now not given a damn about what Sebastian thought of him, he just wanted the other boy to stay away from Blaine and later to simply piss off because his face was annoying. But being forced to actually spend time together (even if it was in a car) had kicked their relationship up a notch, whether Kurt liked it or not. Thoughts and opinions regarding each other were suddenly more important, and Kurt would have to take Sebastian into consideration whenever he was going to do anything –– just like Sebastian would have to with Kurt (although Kurt doubted that he would).

One thing was absolutely clear though: their fathers wanted them to find a truce before they came to Canada. Knowing his own dad, Kurt was prepared for having to work, so that the thing between him and the horse-faced smirky meerkat would be accepted by Burt as an actual truce and not just a we-ignore-each-other-because-we-didn't-feel-like-talking-to-one-another. Burt wanted Kurt to accept Sebastian and to gain Sebastian's acceptance in return. But doing so wasn't going to be easy; nonetheless, he could at least give it a try... And the silence was killing Kurt anyway.

"You have a rather unusual car," Kurt said, trying to sound like he just thought of it without spending the last five minutes trying to come up with something to say to get a conversation going.

"You have a rather unusual wardrobe," Sebastian shot back, sounding defensive, which immediately made Kurt want to take his words; he could feel the insults on the tip of his tongue.

"I trying to have a conversation with you, Sebastian, since we're gonna be stuck together for quite some time now, and the least we could do is to try to get along," he snarled, saying the other boy's name like it was the ultimate insult. He took a deep breath and continued. "Our dads expect that of us, and I don't know about you, but I'd hate to disappoint mine."

Sebastian said nothing for a while, staring straight ahead and appearing to be thinking. Kurt had just about given up on him and was going to try again when Sebastian said something.

"When my parents asked me what kind of car I wanted after I'd taken my licence I thought 'why buy a new car when I can clearly afford to maintain an old, classic one?' So they found this beauty, fixed up a little and then gave to it me. And I love it." He kept his eyes straight forward, but that didn't matter –– what counted was Sebastian's first time telling Kurt something, without a smirk on his face, that was neither offensive nor bragging. It somehow made Sebastian more human, and Kurt felt like he was starting to discover a whole new side to his fellow traveller.

"My dad gave me a Navigator under the condition that I wouldn't wear knee high cardigans," Kurt shared. He felt Sebastian looking at him, like he was trying to determine if Kurt was wearing one right now or not.

Kurt's suspicions were confirmed when Sebastian said, "You clearly stuck to your agreement," and Kurt couldn't help but to snicker a tiny bit.

"Not really," he confessed. "But what he doesn't know doesn't hurt him, and I never wear them around him." He looked up to find Sebastian giving him an odd look, and he merely raised an eyebrow in question before turning back to the road.

"Can't really imagine you doing something as unethical as lying to your father about cardigans," Sebastian said with some kind of amusement in his voice. "What a moral drama it must have been."

"Not really. And I know you'll find it hard to believe, but I've done a lot more mischievous things in my eighteen years."

"Oh, like what exactly?"

"Well, the same year as the cardigan scandal, I tricked Rachel into copying the last outfit of Sandy from Grease, complete with make up, hair and body language."

"And just why did you do that?" Sebastian demanded after a moment.

"I had my ulterior motive," was all Kurt said because he was so not telling Sebastian about his crush on Finn, his brother. He hadn't even told Blaine about that, and Finn and Rachel had more or less forgotten about it anyway (the incident had drowned in the flood of Finchel-drama that those two seemed to generate at any moment).

Sebastian seemed like he wanted to know more, but he didn't pry any further, and Kurt was thankful for that.

"I once spilled tomato sauce on purpose on a pair of pants because I absolutely hated them, but my mum always made me wear them. She was mad at me for a week." Sebastian's attempt at small talk took Kurt somewhat by surprise, but he embraced it and smiled a little.

"But when was that exactly?" he asked almost teasingly, looking at Sebastian. "Were you six or something?"

He caught Sebastian's smirk before he had to look at the road again. "It was last month, actually."

Kurt couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him, as he was trying to imagine Sebastian sitting at his large dining table with his parents and waiting for them to look away so that he could sweep up some ketchup with his fork and 'spill' on his pants. Somehow it was so easy to picture.

"Well, the situation clearly required drastic measures. But you would never do that to a pair of designer pants that looks well on you even though you might find them uncomfortable, right?"

"Oh yes, definitely," Sebastian said quickly in faux innocence which only confirmed that he both would and probably had done it before. They shared a look, and they both knew exactly where they stood in this moment. Somehow, it felt rather comforting.


	9. Chapter 8

Soon (but nowhere _near _too soon) it was midday, and they stopped and ate at a convenient little roadside restaurant. They ate more or less in silence, and Kurt handed the keys over to Sebastian as soon as they stepped out of the car. Sebastian seemed eager to get going though, and he went directly to the car once they were done while Kurt bypassed the bathroom. When he came outside, Sebastian had already started the car and drove away just as Kurt closed the door after entering. Sebastian only spared him a glance, and soon they were on the motorway again.

Like he just remembered something, Sebastian turned on the radio, and Kurt, having jumped the first time that happened, prepared himself. But the blasting sound of noise never came; instead, Sebastian turned on the local radio for some reason, which happened to have one of those annoying commercial breaks.

Kurt wanted to comment on it –– ask just what Sebastian what thinking at the moment –– he really, really did, but he didn't. Because there was a chance that if he commented on it then Sebastian would either switch to that CD which he had scared Kurt to death with before or that he would turn the radio off. And Kurt wanted to avoid the both options at all costs. So he shut it.

The radio channel started to play music again after a while, and Kurt was endlessly thankful for the weird mix of nostalgic songs and Top Ten lists the channel chose to play. It was something that probably _both _Sebastian and he could appreciate, Kurt thought, although he couldn't be one hundred percent sure.

He didn't really keep track of time, but if he had to guess then perhaps half an hour went or so, before a familiar tune started to play. The only problem was that Kurt _couldn't remember where he'd heard it_. It seems like a trivial thing, but it really bothered Kurt that he couldn't place the song because he knew that he'd heard it before, but couldn't recall _from where_. When the song began, it really didn't help either; instead, it only confused him when the song turned into a duet, and he kept listening and listening, trying to place it. And then the chorus came, and it finally, _finally _hit him. Even though he knew neither the title nor the artists, he still made a small noise of relief and victory.

It must have been more audible than he had ever meant it to be because Sebastian gave him a disapproving looking, like he was judging him.

"What?" Kurt snapped because he wasn't going to accept such behaviour from Sebastian.

"Nothing," Sebastian muttered in reply.

"Your wrinkled nose tells otherwise."

The hands around the steering-wheel tightened, and it was almost as if Sebastian had an inner debate with himself. After a moment, he seemed to reach some sort of decision though, and he lost a bit of his air of superiority and looked almost cocky like usual, although his hands still held onto the steering-wheel like it was his lifeline.

"I just thought of you as silly for squealing over a song like this coming on the radio," Sebastian said in a low voice and nodded toward the radio.

Kurt could feel anger build up inside of him, but getting mad would just mean that Sebastian won whatever game they were playing. Instead, he tried to ignore Sebastian's insulting tone and pretend for a moment that it wasn't the Meerkat but someone else sitting next to him and curiously asking over his minor excitement.

"I don't usually 'squeal,' as you put it, because of songs on the radio," Kurt said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. "It's just that I knew that I've heard this song before, but I couldn't remember from where, so when I _did _remember I happened to make a noise. So sue me."

"Where is it from then?"

"_Anastasia_."

Sebastian's expression remained cocky and somewhat confused, and he asked, "What?"

"_Anastasia_," Kurt emphasized. "You know the film."

Sebastian merely shrugged, silently saying that he didn't know, and Kurt gaped for a second.

"Don't tell me you never watched _Anastasia_?"

At this, Sebastian just shook his head, and Kurt couldn't help but to outright stare at him.

"What have you _done_ with your childhood, Mister?" He sounded like a pissed off mum saying that, but whatever, he was sitting next to a guy who hadn't watched _Anastasia_. He knew for a fact that even _Puck_ had watched the film as a child (something he had come to know when they had the discussion over best Disney film because _no_, _Anastasia _isn't a Disney film, it's a 20th Century Fox production).

"I don't know; eating croissants I guess," Sebastian replied, shrugging like he couldn't care less.

"I would say that that would a be waste of time, but croissants _are _delicious."

Sebastian gave him that odd look again that he seemed to give Kurt quite a lot recently, but Kurt ignored it. "Still, this is a great song, actually."

"So great that it took you all the way to the chorus to remember where you heard it..."

Nope, Kurt wouldn't step into Sebastian's trap this time and get mad, no sir, so he concentrated on the song instead, trying to catch every single instrument and every single word because there was no way that he would let Sebastian get to him.

For another hour or so, they drove in silence, listening to the radio, and never once did one of them try to change the channel, no matter how annoying the commercial breaks were. It was all going along fine really, until Sebastian revealed a problem he found.

"Fuck," he muttered softly, and Kurt immediately snapped out of his half-asleep-musings, eyes wide.

"What?" Kurt demanded. "What happened?"

"We're almost out of petrol," Sebastian said, not looking at Kurt.

"_What!_How did you even let that happen?!"

"How did _I_?!" Sebastian snapped. "You're equally responsible since you drove the car, too!"

"I don't know this car as well as you do, and I don't know how much this car drinks! And as far as I recall, you both drove to and from the last petrol station we were at, which makes it _your fault_ since it was _you _and not I who kept watch on the panel!"

"Oh get off my case, Princess," Sebastian drawled. "See," he gestured forward, "there's an exit that leads to another station, it's fine."

Kurt groaned and mumbled why it was so necessary for Sebastian to make such a big deal of this only to find a solution all by himself.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if Sebastian's little spectacle was just Sebastian himself feeling a little bit panicked, but instead of letting it show he had pushed his worries over at Kurt who had accordingly freaked out. It was indeed a possibility, Kurt thought as he watched Sebastian exit to a little highway. There wasn't a station right by the motorway like last time; instead, they had to drive into a neat little town named DuBois in which they found a station on the outskirts of town. It was quite a relief to Kurt (and he suspected to Sebastian too), as they pulled over and parked, so that the proud owner of the SAAB could refuel.

Kurt stayed in the car as he waited; unbuckling the seat belt and reaching for his bag at the back, he got out one of the magazines he had brought. After about three minutes or so, Sebastian entered the car once more and switched the ignition. Only, the car didn't start.

Kurt looked up from his edition of Vogue and observed silently as Sebastian tried again and again to start the car. His jaw was clenched, and his movements were somewhat frustrated, but it was hard to tell if you aren't vigilant. Kurt was though.

With a loud huff, Sebastian opened the hood of the car and then went out to try to find what was wrong. Kurt took it as his cue to put his magazine back in his bag and go take a look himself. Now that he thought about it, he did suspect that it was the battery that was causing this mess, but he wanted to be absolutely sure before he even _breathed _a word of it. Or else Sebastian would never let him forget about it, and Kurt wasn't about to let the other boy have that privilege just yet.

Sebastian looked lost, as he hovered over the hood, and it hit Kurt that Sebastian might not know all that much about cars. Not that he was really all that surprised –– Sebastian didn't really seem like he had a boyish obsession about everything with an engine on four wheels –– but what did surprise Kurt was just how little Sebastian seem _to _know. Kurt had worked long enough in his father's shop to be able to tell who knew about cars and who did not, and Sebastian did not. Kurt almost felt sympathy for him.

But before Kurt could even try to make sense to Sebastian of wide spectrum of distilled water and catalytic converters, Sebastian looked up at him.

"Go back to your queer garbage of journalism because I'm sorry, but this ain't a sewing machine," Sebastian snapped.

Kurt didn't really know what to do with himself because _goodness_, he wanted kick the fucking Meerkat in the balls before pouring acid over him and then run him over with his own goddamn car. He was sure that all his thoughts showed on his face because Sebastian bit his lip, as Kurt just glared him. Oh, if only looks could kill.

For a second, Kurt debated whether he should still take a look at the car despite Sebastian but _no_. This problem was purely Sebastian's, and if he was so damn reluctant to accept Kurt's help then Kurt would oh so good-heartedly spare him the trouble, so that the Preppy could kindly go and fuck himself.

Without a word, Kurt re-entered the car and slammed the the door shut.


	10. Chapter 9

When mad, Kurt could bite of people's heads with mere words. It always came with the pure adrenaline and frustration that he got from the source of his anger, and when he channelled that energy through his mouth rather than his hand, his generally sharp wit filled his opponents with both fear and awe.

Sebastian, however, wasn't really worth the bother. If there was one thing that Kurt had learnt, it was that shouting at Sebastian wouldn't get you anywhere because this jerk-face was as stubborn as a cow, and he would just bitch back, no matter what. So not even giving him the opportunity was really the greatest revenge of them all. But oh, _did_Kurt want to rip him into pieces.

For a while, Kurt stared blankly ahead, thinking of various ways to get back on Sebastian (some rather silly, like changing the language on his phone into Russian or Korean) but that too got all the more boring as Kurt calmed down. After five minutes of pure rage, he pulled out his magazine once again. Like he had already thought –– Sebastian could fix his own car no matter how incapable he might be; Kurt didn't care.

He did let himself let go of his surroundings for a moment (Sebastian be damned) and read a long but entertaining article about proper summer shoes when suddenly Sebastian opened the door on the drivers side and entered the car again. He tried once more to turn on the engine without any success this time either, and he actually looked dismayed.

"You give up?" Kurt asked, his tone a natural as ever.

"_Yes_," Sebastian groaned, closing his eyes and leaning back against the headrest.

"Good." Kurt didn't bother to put the magazine back in its place again; instead, he just let it lie on the seat as he walked out and took a proper look at the machinery.

It looked like Sebastian had stood and simply stared at the engine for ten minutes, maybe checked the oil but not really doing anything else. Kurt sighed before doing over to Sebastian's side.

"Out," he demanded.

Sebastian looked somewhat startled for a moment. "What?"

"I said 'out', so out."

He received a frown that changed into a critical look. Sebastian clearly thought that Kurt couldn't make much difference but, for reasons only known to himself, did as told, and Kurt took his seat and tried the ignition one last time for confirmation before opening the trunk.

"You know that that's the trunk, right?" Sebastian mockery pointed out.

"I'm aware," he replied, as he passed Sebastian on his way to his suitcase. Once at the back, he dug through it (why is it that when you need something it's always at the bottom?) with Sebastian watching his every more. Finally, he found his little red toolbox and allowed himself a small smile of victory.

"What's that?" Sebastian asked.

"The portal Narnia. What does it look like to you?" Kurt shut his suitcase again and closed the trunk, placing the tool box on the roof of the SAAB, as he took of his scarf and vest and laid them in the back seat; he didn't want to run the risk of getting dirt on his precious designer items.

Sebastian followed him one step behind, as he went to the front of the car and opened his toolbox to pull out his jumper cables. Looking around, he found that the petrol station was just about as dead as the surface of the Moon, and he groaned.

"Wait here," he told Sebastian. "I'll go inside and ask one of the staff members if they could let us borrow their car, so I can bring yours back to life momentarily."

"Why would you need another car to do that?" Sebastian demanded, and Kurt gave him his famous you-are-too-stupid-to-live look. Yes, _that one_.

"The battery is obviously dead, and we need another car to recharge it, so that we can get to the nearest garage and have it changed."

"Oh, so you can't change it yourself?" Sebastian said mockingly, which only gave Kurt the urge to take his jumper cables and strangle the Meerkat (something that he ignored –– what if he ruined his cables?), and he merely rolled his eyes at Sebastian's stupidity.

"Of course I can, but because you have such an _old_ car, the likelihood that this little station has the battery you need is astronomical. Do yourself a favour and shut your ungodly big trap until we get to the garage." And with that Kurt turned around and walked into the little shop. The owners, a middle-age couple, were really nice and helpful, letting Kurt borrow their car and giving them directions to the nearest garage (which thankfully wasn't that far away). As Kurt connected the plus pole to the plus pole, the wife told them that "it was so nice to see two young men with such a lovely car and not a gang of bikers" at their station, which caused Kurt to wonder just _who_passed through this city really. He couldn't help but to ask and was informed that it was mostly bickers passing through to re-fuel and the occasional car that constituted their customer base. And the people who lived in the town, of course.

Sebastian stayed blissfully quiet the whole time and watched Kurt work, leaning against his SAAB. He stepped away when Kurt got in the car to start the engine, so that the battery could re-charge, and thanked the couple for their help once they were done. Kurt took the driver's seat, and Sebastian climbed in the passenger without a word of complaint. The silence was rather surprising, but Kurt said nothing about it because he _really_ didn't want to break it while he was trying to find his way to the garage. Luckily for him, there was a huge red sign that said "_Jim's Garage"_in bold letters. Kurt parked the car outside and finally turned to really look at Sebastian. And goodness, he looked pissed off for some weird reason, and Kurt had neither the interest nor energy to deal with him at the moment.

"I'll just do and talk to the mechanics, and then they'll ask us to bring the car in, which we'll just roll it in using manpower since it's dead as rock, so you can sit here if you feel like it." He waited a moment to see if Sebastian had anything to say, but when he didn't Kurt stepped out of the car and went inside.

"Excuse me?" he called out, as he walked inside and looked around. The garage was smaller than his dad's, but the smell of oil and tires was almost the same, and a wave of nostalgia hit Kurt.

"Can I help you?" someone said to his left, and Kurt turned to look at the tall mechanic. He was about Burt's age and actually had the same kind of secure and straightforward feeling to him, although they looked nothing like each other otherwise. But it made Kurt smile.

"Yes, please. You see my car's battery gave out, and it needs to be changed," Kurt said, cutting right to the chase.

"Oh, well then you've come to the right place." The mechanic smiled and gestured Kurt to go outside, so they could have a look. "What sort of a car is it?"

"It's an old SAAB GT 750 if you're familiar with it." (Kurt just may have looked it up on his phone to appease his own curiosity while Sebastian was driving)

The mechanic shrugged but then exclaimed, "You weren't joking when you said it was old!" when they got outside.

Sebastian was leaning against the passenger door, eyeing them as they stepped outside.

"Your friend?" the mechanic wondered.

"Yes."

Together, all three of them pushed the SAAB inside, and the mechanic had a peek under the hood to say what Kurt already knew was coming.

"I'm sorry to tell you boys, but since this is such an old model I don't have a suitable battery in the store, so I'll have to order one."

"And how long will it take before it arrives?" Sebastian asked, speaking for the first time since they left the petrol station.

"Well, if I do it now, it'll come tomorrow, and the car will be ready by noon."

Sebastian looked like he was about to protest, but Kurt knew well enough to stop him –– if Sebastian took things too far and managed to make the mechanic angry, then they would really be in trouble.

"That would be fine," Kurt said quickly. "But is there any motel or something in town where we could stay until tomorrow?"

"There's a B'n'B if that works? You'll just have to walk back up to the main road, go left, and then it's to the right two blocks after IKEA."

"Thank you." Kurt smiled and hoped to _something _that Sebastian's face didn't look too offensive.

"You're welcome."

Kurt and Sebastian took their bags (the mechanic asked where they were travailing to when he saw the luggage) and then went outside, walking toward the main road.


	11. Chapter 10

They walked until they were out of earshot from the garage when Sebastian (perhaps not so suddenly) attacked him.

"And just _what _made you even _think _that you had the authority to tell that damn worker whether it was 'okay' or not for him NOT to do his damn job, huh?" Sebastian snarled at him, glaring as they walked.

"Because, unlike you, I actually _know _how these things work, Sebastian," Kurt defended, sounding almost like he was speaking to a child, which perhaps wasn't the wisest of things.

"And what makes you the expert, your fucking majesty?"

"You don't know _anything _about me, so don't think you have me all figured out," Kurt said in a low voice, desperately restraining his anger. He stopped on the pavement and looked straight into Sebastian's eyes, wanting to make himself absolutely clear. "I _know_ that there's more to you than you let on, and I might never know just what, but I know that there must be something because you're a person just like the rest of us, no matter how much you'd like people to believe otherwise for whatever reason. So don't be so fucking fast to judge people because chances are you'll be _wrong_."

With that he walked away, not interested in seeing Sebastian's reaction, whether it was surprised or taunting, or if he actually managed to hit something right on the head. He could see the main road ahead, and he dragged his suitcase forward, sensing Sebastian coming up next to him again rather than actually seeing it.

"Once again –– what makes you the expert on everything so suddenly, huh?" Sebastian said as soon as he caught up, and Kurt _really _wanted to knock those large teeth in.

"What makes you so damn _annoying_?"

"Oh, so _I'm _annoying now, am I? Not you and your controlling aspergers and road atlas?"

"Why is it that the only things that come out of your damn mouth are sexual innuendoes, insults and twisted morals, as if you actually own everything you decide to have?!"

"Oh, as if your shit smells like Chanel #5!" Sebastian spat, as they crossed the main road, IKEA standing blue and yellow in front of them, not that Kurt really cared.

"As if that would even be possible! And even if it were, _what _does it have to do with anything?!"

"Have you met yourself?! You're like the stereotypical gay rainbow unicorn personified!"

"Except for the part where I sleep around with everything with a cock since that's obviously _you_, if you failed to notice!"

The problem with arguing with Sebastian wasn't perhaps the arguing itself –– that he could handle; but it was the fact that he didn't pay as much attention to the world around as he normally would. Perhaps if he had, he would have been able to prevent what was lying before them, but as it was, there was nothing he could do.

Kurt hadn't seen that there were people watching them, listening to their shouting match, too caught up in Sebastian, so really, how could he see the huge, intimidating guys in leather-jackets looking at them from where they were sitting on their bikes across the big parking lot just outside the blue and yellow building.

"Hey!" one of them shouted, taking Kurt's attention away from Sebastian, eyes wide once they landed on the bikers. "Could you and your boyfriend shut the fuck up and stay in the closet, I don't want you fags anywhere near me!" he shouted, and Kurt felt his stomach drop, the familiar anger and horror running through him, as homophobes like these tried to pick a fight (and a slight _something _that he couldn't place because of the word "boyfriend")_._He knew that the best way to deal with it all would be to walk away as fast as possible; it didn't matter whether these guys were idiots because Kurt would never win a match against them.

Sebastian, on other hand, didn't get that memo apparently.

"And just who the fuck do you think you are, you low-class, cheap excuse of a man?" Sebastian snarled, and Kurt's blood froze. _This wasn't good at all_. "And he's not my fucking boyfriend, you prejudged illiterate!"

"You shut the fuck up, _fag_!" The biker flew up from his seat, not walking toward them but looking ready to go after them at any second. "Don't mess with me!"

"Or what? You're gonna try to read out loud? Because yes, that _would _be a torture."

"Sebastian," Kurt hissed, desperately trying to get the boy to _back the fuck off_. Not that it helped, of course.

"Okay, that's enough, faggot. No one talks like that to me and gets away with it!" The man started walking now, his friends close behind, and Kurt acted on pure instinct, taking his suitcase under his arm (fuck, _why _did it have to be so heavy?!) and grabbing Sebastian's hand, dragging him into a run. Sebastian was strong and uncooperative, but adrenaline was pumping through Kurt's veins, and he probably surprised Sebastian with his move, so he managed to drag him through the doors of the big store.

"What the fuck?" Sebastian said, trying to snatch his hand back, but Kurt was having none of it, holding the Meerkat's hand in a death grip. He needed Sebastian _alive_.

"Just run, idiot!" he shouted back, running past shopping cards and families who had nothing better to do with their spare time. Kurt didn't look around, as they ran up the stairs and into the labyrinth of furniture with arrows showing the way. Sebastian ran beside him, Kurt leading them through the crowd before quickly dragging him behind a set of wardrobes as they rounded a corner.

"I think we lost them," Kurt said, a bit out of breath.

"You _think_?!"

Kurt shushed him. "The whole world doesn't need to know that we're here, keep it down."

"How did you even do that?!" Sebastian demanded.

"Did what?"

"Just _escaped_, like you had this plan all thought out."

"Well I didn't actually 'plan' anything. It was just instinct."

"I don't even want to know where you learnt that..." Sebastian leaned against the wardrobe behind him, taking a deep breath before looking back at Kurt. "So what now, double 0 7?"

Kurt snickered at the latest nickname. It was perhaps the best one yet.

"Now we get out of here. I don't know if they followed us in here, but if they did, they'll still be looking, and if they stayed outside then we'll just need to find another exit. And then we'll try to get to the B'n'B as fast as possible."

"Well, you're the expert on everything it seems."

Kurt ignored the obvious jab and finally placed his suitcase back on the floor before looking around one last time and then walking out from their hiding place, following the arrows. Sebastian trailed after him,not that it lasted all that long. Soon enough, Sebastian stopped following the obvious path that was pointing to the exit and walked in between the display beds instead.

"What are you doing?" Kurt hissed.

"Trying to find a way out," Sebastian said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, it's not there, smartarse. You'll have to follow the arrows."

"What if I don't?" Sebastian challenged.

"Are you freaking kidding me, Sebastian? Have you never been to IKEA before? There's only _one way_out of here, and it's following the arrows!"

"Oh really now. So if I were to take a shortcut here through the beds, it wouldn't work, and the staff would come and arrest me and lock me into one of those fake apartments and feed me with meatballs?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Kurt snapped over a double bed that was standing in between him and one obnoxiously stubborn Meerkat with apparent suicidal tendencies.

"_You're _the ridiculous one here!" Sebastian shot back, but thankfully coming up to walk next to Kurt again. "Like there's only one way out of here."

"It's _IKEA_: a one-way street right ahead, with small dead ends here and there."

"That sounds like fucking life," Sebastian grumbled lowly, and Kurt frowned at the change of tune. He _would _have commented on it if it hadn't been for what happened next.

"There they are!" someone shouted behind them, and both Kurt and Sebastian turned to see all the bikers they met outside pushing their way through the crowd, coming toward them.

"Fuck," the boys said in unison before breaking into a run again, suitcase under Kurt's arm and Sebastian's bag hitting against his side as he ran.

Sebastian was almost tackling down the people in front of them, where's Kurt seeped through.

"Don't run into them, idiot!" Kurt shouted to Sebastian. "Run in between!"

"Because that's so fucking easy!" Sebastian shouted back.

Kurt could hear the bikers shouting behind them, and he knew that they were only making things easier for their pursuers by clearing a path through the crowd that the bikers could follow. A smarter thing to do would be to use the people in between as a hinder to slow the bikers down, but clearly, Sebastian couldn't run like that, so Kurt had to come up with another plan.

They soon reached the stairs that took them to the bottom floor and the take-it-yourself storage room, with lots of high shelves. Perfect.

They ran across the main road before Kurt grabbed Sebastian's sleeve and dragged him in between two bookshelves. Just like he had thought, there was also a little pathway on the other end of the shelves that you could walk through (most likely there so that you wouldn't have to go all the way down the corridor to grab something and then all the way back again if you wanted something in the next corridor). Kurt stopped when they reached the end of the corridor and were hidden for anyone to see them.

"Okay listen," he said, terribly out of breath. "They saw us turning in here so they'll come after us, and we need to get out before they do because if they're out first then they'll have their bikes, and we're screwed, okay?"

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded.

"So when they get in-between the shelves, we're gonna run down here, toward the exit, out on the main way and then outside, and run as fast as we can to the B'n'B and don't stop until we're there. Got it?"

"Got it."

Just at that moment, they both heard one biker yelling, "They're down here!" - and that was their cue. Kurt was a fast runner, but so was Sebastian when there were no people in the way, and they ran all the way down the hidden corridor before turning by the last shelf. The lines by the checkout area were huge, since so many people were waiting in line and too few checkouts open.

"Don't fight the crowd, move with it," Kurt said and then led the way to one of those 'Do it Yourself' checkouts.

"Excuse me, we're just gonna pass through," he said in the politest tone he would manage to the people waiting in line and then pointedly pressed past them, ignoring the angry glares. Once out, they ran like freaking maniacs, and thankfully, all the bikers had gone after them, so there were no surprises waiting for them outside.

As soon as they were out, they turned off the main road and ran down the street, the second block to the right, frantically looking for that B'n'B recommended by the mechanic.

"There it is," Sebastian said suddenly, and ah yes, there was the sign partly hidden behind an oak tree,and there was the house that looked neat and nice and perfect.

They ran inside before finally stopping and catching their breaths. The receptionist gave them an odd look but said nothing, and once Kurt caught Sebastian's eyes, he couldn't help but to laugh about the absurdity of things. And Sebastian laughed with him, a clucking and breathless sound. Kurt couldn't find it in himself not to enjoy the music of his laughter.


	12. Chapter 11

Once the two of them calmed down from their outburst, they walked up to the reception and the scared-looking teenage girl who stood behind it.

"Yeah, hi, two single rooms, please?" Sebastian asked her with a rather charming smile (although it had absolutely no affect on Kurt, oh no).

"Do you have a reservation?" the girl asked.

"Ah, no."

"I'm really sorry then sir, but we only have one room with a double available. There's a wedding in town, and they booked almost the entire place, except for three rooms that are booked by other travellers." She did look sorry, but didn't really make it any better.

"Is there any chance that you could put in an extra bed or a couch to sleep on?" Kurt asked.

"Sorry, no, there's really no space for it."

Sebastian looked at Kurt like _he _held the answer to their problem, and after a moment of consideration Kurt made the decision.

"We'll take it," he said, and Sebastian almost looked surprised while the receptionist gave them the most neutral face he'd seen in ages. Sebastian paid after a short staring contest between the two and then followed the directions to their room that was given to them. They got room number 12.

"At least, it's not 13," Kurt muttered, as he unlocked the door and stepped inside. The room was in no way spacious and has nothing more than just a slightly narrow double bed, a desk with a fat TV on it, and a door that probably led to a bathroom.

"What, you're extremely superstitious too, now?" Sebastian asked, as he dropped his bag on the floor.

"_No_," Kurt said with an icy glare, "but it would have been _too _typical, wouldn't it?"

"I guess," Sebastian paused for a second and then sat down on the bed, looking up at Kurt. "I'm gonna call my parents and let them know we're gonna be a bit late, do you mind?" He motioned toward the door, and he did ask _somewhat _nicely for privacy, so Kurt just gave him a "Sure," and then went outside. He had to call Burt and Finn anyway to say the same thing, and he rather didn't want Sebastian to hear all of it.

He walked around the little B'n'B, exploring the facilities, and soon found a little garden outside of it, hidden from the street. It had more of those oaks that had been outside, a paved patio where one could eat their breakfast while having a good view over the trees and the little pond in the garden. It really was just so neat, and Kurt couldn't help but to like every bit of it.

He sat down by one of the tables and pulled his phone out. Dad first.

"Hey Kiddo!" Burt sounded happy, and Kurt smiled a little to himself as he sat, looking over the garden. "How's it going?"

"Well..." Kurt started. "We're gonna be a day late or so..."

"How come?"

"Sebastian's car's battery died, so we're stuck halfway in Pennsylvania."

"You're serious? Why didn't you take your car?"

"I don't even let Finn dive it, how am I suppose to entrust it to _Sebastian_?" Kurt said haughtily (and carefully not mentioning _anything _about a broken windscreen).

"Okay, I get it. So where are you now then?"

"In a town called 'DuBois'. We found a little B'n'B that we're staying at after handing the car in to be fixed."

"Couldn't you have fixed it yourself?" Burt asked, and Kurt chuckled a little, remembering Sebastian's face when Kurt took charge earlier by the petrol station.

"You're not gonna believe this, but he has this very old, very beautiful SAAB, a GT 750, and you don't find batteries to those just anywhere. But the mechanic was really nice and said that he'll have it ready to go by noon tomorrow."

"Wow, that's efficient."

"Yeah, I know. And I'm not complaining."

Burt chuckled. "And how's Sebastian?"

"Honestly? He's dreadful."

Burt outright laughed at him, and Kurt felt himself getting worked up.

"It's not that funny when he suddenly started playing the most awful _noise _when I was trying to sleep, dad."

"Hehe, if you say so."

"Anyway, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Shoot."

"How did Rachel manage to make her way into this trip?"

There was a moment of silence, undoubtedly there because Burt was trying to phrase is answer in the best way possible without anything coming out the wrong way (something easily done in the subject of Rachel).

"She felt that Finn would need her for moral support and argued that one more person would not make a big difference. And she is your friend who you're going to share an apartment with anyhow –– having her around is something that you'll have to get used to."

"Yes, I realise that I have to get used to the idea of having Rachel around far more than ever before, which is already a lot as it is, but that doesn't mean that she _has _to come. But if you're wondering, I told Finn to decide for himself if he wanted her to join us or not. Does Sebastian know about it by the way?"

"Not unless you or his parents have told him, and I doubt that either of you have."

"Okay... I'm looking forward to seeing his reaction."

"Don't be a bully, Kurt," his dad said in a warning tone.

"Don't worry! I'll wait for his parents to tell him, and if they don't then I'll try to break it to him as neatly as possible, lest Rachel or Finn says something stupid," Kurt assured, and he could practically feel his dad grinning at the other end.

"Well, good luck with that. And you'll call me tomorrow too, right?"

"Of course, dad. Say hi to Carole from me, okay?"

"I will. Bye Kiddo, love you!"

"I love you too, dad. See you soon." With that they hung up, and Kurt wasted no time before calling Finn.

"Hi, dude!" his brother answered after about four tones.

"I thought we talked about 'dude', Finn," Kurt deadpanned.

"Oh crap, sorry man!"

Kurt couldn't really suppress a little frustrated groan, and he felt the urge to run his fingers through his hair –– an urge that he ignored _of course_, seeing how his hair was perfect even after IKEA, and he planned to keep it that way.

"Have you thought about Rachel coming along then?" he asked, switching subject.

"Yeah, she's in the bathroom, so I'm safe," Finn informed him, although Kurt would have been happy not knowing, "But I kinda want her to come with us. I mean she's so small and won't take up so much space, and she's nice, and it could be fun and stuff."

Kurt wanted to point out that despite her little body, Rachel Berry took up a _lot _of space, but he decided against it.

"Sure Finn, if it's okay with you then I'm fine with it, and Sebastian will just have to cope."

His brother laughed at that, and Kurt felt himself smiling too.

"But when are you coming here, man?" Finn asked suddenly.

"Ah, yes, about that. We're gonna be a day late."

"What?! What happened? Should I beat Sebastian up as soon as I see him or something?"

"No no, nothing like that! And please don't, Burt and Carole will just get mad at you _and _me."

"But what happened?"

"We're driving in Sebastian's car, and the battery died, so we're stuck in this little town until tomorrow."

"That sucks, man!"

"Yeah..." Kurt decided that mentioning the chase through IKEA or the fact that he will probably have to share a bed with Sebastian (oh _goodness_, he would have to share a bed with _Sebastian_! Fuck!) was probably not the brightest of ideas, especially since Finn was slowly becoming more and more protective over Kurt. It's funny how about three years ago he would have become all giddy and flushed if Finn had acted like he did now toward him, and now he found the whole thing slightly annoying. But then again, life had yet to prove itself to be other than unexpected.

"But tell Rachel I said hi and that I'm coming tomorrow, and I'll call you again when we're getting close, okay?" Kurt said, suddenly wanting this conversation to be over.

"Sure, bro. And Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Does 'bro' work? Instead of 'dude' I mean."

"Sure, Finn."

"Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Yeah, bye."

"Bye bro!"

Like he thought, this was weird.

With a sigh, he rose from his seat and went back to the room - surely, Sebastian was done talking with his parents, too. It was about four o'clock right now, as Kurt noticed with a last glance at his phone, and he thought that he would perhaps propose that he and Sebastian got some dinner somewhere, since this was a Just Bed and Breakfast, Get Your Own Dinner they were staying at. Too bad that Kurt wouldn't risk going back to IKEA, or they could have eaten there at the restaurant. Passing the reception, he asked the girl if there were any other places to eat, and she recommended a little Italian restaurant that had take-away a bit further down the main road. Thinking that it sounded nice and save enough, Kurt went back to the room.

"Maman, arrête! Je ne l'apprécie même pas! Et de toute façon: il a un copain!" Sebastian said in rapid _French _into his phone, as Kurt opened the door. Kurt didn't know that Sebastian could speak French so fluently, or that he did it to his _mother_. Sebastian was sitting with his back toward Kurt and had obviously not heard Kurt open the door, and while Kurt would _love _to find out just who Sebastian didn't like and who had a boyfriend anyway, he wasn't going to eavesdrop. Today at least.

He cleared his throat loudly and raised an eyebrow at Sebastian as the Meerkat turned around and looked at him with wide eyes and a faint flush on his cheeks.

"Faut que je te laisse, Maman," Sebastian said into the phone. "Non mais vraiment, je dois y aller là. Oui, moi aussi je t'aime, au revoir Maman."

"You speak French?" Kurt couldn't help but to ask once Sebastian had hung up because well, _he was curious_.

"Yeah, why?" Sebastian shot back defensively.

Kurt shrugged, shaking off Sebastian's attitude. "Just curious. It's not everyday that you find a bilingual meerkat."

"Har har," Sebastian deadpanned, though the corner of his mouth did point up a little. "I'm half French _if you have to know_."

"I have an aunt who lives in Alaska, but that's as exotic as it gets for me."

Sebastian chuckled softly at that, and Kurt couldn't quite explain to himself why it made a thrill run down his spine. Then there was a moment of silence again, and Kurt felt awkward from where he was still standing by the (now closed) door, looking down at Sebastian who was looking back up at him, seeming just as awkward.

"So, I've been meaning to ask," Sebastian ended the silence, "how in the world did you learn to be so sneaky while running away?" he asked with a smirk on his face. It was probably meant to lighten the mood, but Kurt felt his stomach drop, and he walked over to his bag, opening it and trying to compose tomorrow's outfit while answering, not meeting Sebastian's eyes.

"Well," Kurt began, "I had to learn how to think fast on my feet and come up with plans because I didn't really fancy being beaten up if the bullies had caught up with me. And dad would have been devastated if he found out, and I couldn't have that," he said in an almost self-deprecating tone. Looking down at the fabric in his hands, he let out a half-strangled chuckle. "And it would have been a crime against the greater good to have my designer clothes destroyed."

When he turned, he found Sebastian looking back up at him with such an unusual look in his eyes, like he couldn't believe what Kurt had just said and something close to empathy and admiration in his eyes. It was thrilling and terrifying all at once. So Kurt changed subject.

"Then there's the question of sleeping arrangements," he said, walking away from his suitcase and looking at the headboard of the bed.

"If you feel like sleeping on the floor then it's all settled," Sebastian joked, quickly jumping into the new subject.

"Don't be a fool. Besides, if someone is to sleep on the floor then by all means it should be you, since it's _your car_that made us end up here."

"You're gonna blame a lifeless _thing _for breaking?" Sebastian asked skeptically, as he came to stand by Kurt's side.

"Nope," Kurt said, looking at Sebastian, "I'm gonna blame its _owner_."

Sebastian looked back at him, and for a moment they only started into each others eyes in challenge, green against blue-grey, before something flashed over Sebastian's features, and he looked away.

"Or we could just share it," Kurt said after a beat.

"Sure your boyfriend is okay with that?" Sebastian asked mockingly, and Kurt couldn't help but to frown before it hit him that _oh,_Sebastian didn't know that he and Blaine had broke up. Holy hell.

"I don't have a boyfriend, so that's probably okay."

Now it was Sebastian's turn to frown at Kurt who merely shrugged at his quizzical look and walked back to his suitcase.

"So it's settled then," Kurt said. "And I want the side closest to the bathroom," he claimed, as he pulled out his old moustache t-shirt. Some things never became unfashionable.

"Okay, whatever Princess." And back to the name-calling.

"I talked to receptionist, and she recommended a little Italian restaurant further down the main road, so how do you feel about dinner? We'll just go there and take something back here that we can eat outside at the patio they have."

"You sure are well-informed. But fine, Italian sound nice."

"Good."

They walked more or less in silence to the restaurant and brought back some carry-out, the whole adventure going smoothly with no bikers interrupting them (Kurt may or may not have been looking for any leather jackets the entire time they were outside, and Sebastian may or may not have noticed it, but he said nothing about it either way.)

Sebastian did comment on Kurt's knowledge about the B'n'B's hidden patio to which Kurt defensively told him that he had found it when Sebastian kicked him out of the room.

Even though it was just about half past five when they were done, Kurt could feel the lack of proper sleep, and the fact he spent the night lying on top of Noah Puckerman started to remind of itself. One look at Sebastian told him that the other boy was tired too. And that's why he suggested that they should call it a day, as they were picking up their garbage and throwing it in a nearby trash can.

"What, don't tell me you're tired already?" Sebastian said when they started to walk back to the room.

"Okay, then I won't, but I know that you are too."

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"The eyes are the windows to the soul, and yours tell me that you didn't sleep well last night."

"Oh really now."

"Really."

Sebastian sighed, but Kurt was obviously right because he gave up.

"Fine, let's get ready for bed," he said.

Getting ready for bed turned out to take quite a while though, since Sebastian, who ran into the bathroom as soon as they got back, took _forever _in it.

"What are you even doing?!" Kurt shouted. "Not even _I _take that long, and I go through my skincare routine, Sebastian!"

"Well, then do it outside!" Sebastian shouted back through the door.

"There's no mirror out here, Einstein!"

"Stop being such a bitch, Kurt, and I might just move faster," Sebastian teased, but finally opening the door.

Kurt all but dragged him out of the bathroom, as he pushed his way through the door.

"Hey! What if I weren't done!" Sebastian exclaimed.

"Then you should have thought about that before you opened the door," Kurt said before slamming the door shut and finally taking care of his skin. He did it in record time too and changed out of his clothes into a pair of silk pyjama-bottoms and a little too big grey t-shirt that was so comfortable to sleep in. It felt like Kurt was going to need it.

After brushing his teeth and getting all the products out of his hair, Kurt re-entered the room, only to have Sebastian stare at him.

"What?!" he snapped at Sebastian who was lying on (thankfully) his part of the bed already, a book in his hands.

"Nothing," Sebastian choked out, but then found his composure again. "I just realised that you're wearing _normal _clothes for once in your life."

"Did you expect me to sleep in a three-piece suit?" Kurt said, as he climbed into the bed. Fuck, there was only one cover which they had to share. It was like asking for a war of tugging.

"Almost," Sebastian smiled and returned to his book. Kurt wondered what he was reading, but didn't feel like asking, so instead he tucked himself in and turned to face away from Sebastian and the light of the lamp next to the boy.

"You mind if I keep reading?" Sebastian asked, surprisingly polite.

"No, it's fine," Kurt assured. "Good night," he then added.

"Good night, Kurt."

It had been a long day, and a draining one too, and Kurt was asleep within minutes. The heat of Sebastian's body was almost overwhelming, and Kurt just remembered how it felt to really share a bed with someone else before gave into his exhaustion.

* * *

"_Maman, arrête! Je ne l'apprécie même pas! Et de toute façon: il a un copain!" - "__Stop it, mum! I don't even like him! And he has a boyfriend anyway!"_

"_Faut que je te laisse, Maman ... Non mais vraiment, je dois y aller là. Oui, moi aussi je t'aime, au revoir Maman." - "__I got to go now, mum … No really, I have to. Yeah, bye, love you too."_


	13. Chapter 12

Kurt felt warm and sort of safe if he was honest to himself, and in the privacy of his own mind, he liked to be. Traces of sleep was still present, and it made his mind fuzzy and slow, as he rolled over onto his stomach in his half-continuous state, trying to nuzzle even further into the comfortable warmth. He felt something strangely similar to a breath ghost down his neck, and all the sudden Kurt was hyper aware of the fact that he wasn't alone in the bed, as well as of the solid but warm chest that he was pressing into and of the arm resting over his back.

Slowly, oh so slowly, he opened his eyes, trying to get a glimpse of the other body embracing him and found himself looking back into a pair of very green eyes, hovering slightly over him. With a shout, Kurt jerked back and pushed Sebastian away who gave out a cry, as he tumbled off the bed and fell to the floor.

It took a moment for Kurt to register everything: just _why _was he sharing a bed with Sebastian and where _was __he _anyway, before the memories of yesterday came back. And then Sebastian's head suddenly reappeared at the end of the bed, the green eyes glaring at him.

"Just what kind of fucked up reaction was that?" he snarled at Kurt, looking like a ruffled little meerkat with those angry eyes and wild bed-hair, and despite himself, Kurt couldn't help but laugh at his bewildered bedmate.

"I'm sorry!" he proclaimed loudly before buried his face in the pillow, still howling with laughter. "You just –– and your face just now, and oh goodness I'm sorry."

Trying to get a hold of himself, he turned to face Sebastian again, freely dragging a hand through his hair, as he grinned at the other boy who was still glaring at him. "I'm just not that used to waking up with someone beside me at the moment," he tried to explain.

"And your first reaction is to push them off the bed? Good to know."

"I woke up to you staring at me, you can't blame me alone for that reaction when you basically asked for it!" Kurt protested, as he sat up in the of the bed, the cover pooling in his lap.

Much to his surprise, he saw Sebastian blushing at the accusation, as he got quickly up on his feet, turning away from Kurt's quizzical eyes and going toward the bathroom.

"I was just about to wake you up, so I could untangle myself!"

"It was _your _arm and not mine that was draped over me!"

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation!" Sebastian shouted loudly before slamming the bathroom door shut. Kurt was _so _tempted to continue the argument through the wooden door, but he restrained himself and got up instead.

Letting his gaze wander the room, he quickly realised that he would need to be in the bathroom in order to make himself presentable enough to go and have his breakfast. The only problem was Sebastian, of course, who was occupying the bathroom while his clothes were left hanging over a chair. Kurt couldn't help but wonder if Sebastian did stuff like this on purpose just to annoy him, or if it was just in his nature to generally get on Kurt's nerves.

With a sigh, he picked up the clothes and then gently knocked on the bathroom door.

"_What,_" Sebastian snapped at the other side, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"You know, they say bringing your clothes with you is bound to make things easier if you're going to change."

The door unlocked and opened after a moment, and a hand came out, reaching for the clothes which Kurt was nice enough to just hand over. Sebastian was quick to shut the door again, but then gave a faint "Thank you," so quiet that Kurt nearly missed it.

It spread a warmth through Kurt's stomach that he would rather not think about. "You're welcome, just hurry up because I'm hungry," he said and then pointedly turned away, packing his next-to-already-packed suitcase just to _do _something.

Sebastian came out of the bathroom quite fast though, and Kurt made a quick deal of getting ready; it was already 9 AM surprisingly enough (just how tired had he been last night?), and Kurt hadn't been kidding when he said that he was hungry.

The breakfast was nice in all its simplicity, and although the whole dining room and most of the patio were filled with people –– most likely the guests to that wedding the receptionist had mentioned, Kurt and Sebastian managed to get a table outside. Kurt had actually been a bit surprised when Sebastian didn't object to sitting outside while eating breakfast. When he asked about it, Sebastian simply shrugged it off with "I like being outside," and then sat completely quiet for about ten minutes.

Sebastian looked in deep thought and for some reason it really bothered Kurt. He really, really wanted to know what was going on that boy's head. He didn't get to though, because Kurt wasn't in a position where he could try to pry things out of Sebastian like he would be with most people that he knew, like Rachel or Puck.

Coming to think of Puck, Kurt pulled up his phone where he sat by the breakfast table and found that he had several texts waiting for him, most of them from Rachel who asked if he was alive and why he wasn't in New York yet, and almost equally as many from Puck who said that he heard from Rachel that 'his Princess' was missing and demanded to know if he should go on a quest after the Preppy. Kurt couldn't help but to smile at his friends' overreactions and slightly hilarious overprotecting devotion. He would never tell them because it would most definitely result in an even greater overprotection, but it warmed him to know that he had friends who cared.

"What are you grinning at?" Sebastian asked curiously.

"Just my crazy friends. And if you haven't gathered it yet, Puck _will _probably try to kill you, or at least cause permanent damage once you get home, if he ever hears that you hurt me."

Sebastian shrugged easily before a smirk crept up his face. "What I'm more curious about is how you ever became friends with a guy like that," he said slyly, and Kurt couldn't help but to laugh a little. Yes, it was indeed something wondrous even to Kurt.

"Well, Puck was originally Finn's best friend, officially still is, even after Puck knocked up Finn's first girlfriend and made out with his second girlfriend and all that drama there, and Puck was actually one of my bullies and used to take great pleasure out of throwing me into a dumpster every now and then, and not to mention slushy my face. But he sort of came down from his bully-height when he joined glee club and –– why are you looking at me like that?" he asked because Sebastian was gaping at him, actually _gaping_.

"Oh I'm sorry, but what kind of friends _do you have?_ He threw things _at_ you and threw _you _into things, yet he's one of your best friends?"

"Says the guy who almost blinded the boy he was trying to allure."

"Now don't give me that, that slushy was meant for your clothes, and if Blaine hadn't jumped in the way, then no one would actually have been drastically hurt. And I do feel bad about it," Sebastian added, looking down at his plate.

"I know you do, but if _you_ feel bad about _that_, then what do you think Puck feel about all the things he did to me, huh? He, just like you, was young and stupid, and while you're both still young you've probably learnt from your mistakes, yeah?"

"I guess. Only throw things that can really hurt people when you're absolutely sure that no one will jump in the way."

"Of course you'd say that." Kurt rolled his eyes, but couldn't keep a fond little smile off his face.


	14. Chapter 13

Just like promised, the car was fixed and ready to go by noon. Kurt handled the talk while Sebastian just handed over his credit card and put the baggage back in the trunk. Soon the car was standing on the garage's driveway, and they were ready to get going, Sebastian already in the driver seat turning the engine on.

"Hope you and your boyfriend have a safe trip," the mechanic wished and waved just as Kurt opened the door, and he froze in his place.

"He's –– we're not –– " Kurt started, but Sebastian cut him off with:

"Just get in the damn car, Kurt!" and the mechanic chuckled before turning back to his garage.

Kurt was momentarily gobsmacked. Wasn't Sebastian the one who went against a group of freaking _bikers_ as recently as _yesterday_ because they assumed that he and Kurt were boyfriends?And now he just brushed it off, _stopping _Kurt from correcting the far less intimidating mechanic for making the same mistake. The fuck?!

Choosing to just ignore it, Kurt jumped in the car, and then they were on their way to New York.

They had been on the motorway for about ten minutes when Sebastian suddenly decided to talk.

"Can I ask you something?" he said out of the blue, and Kurt, who had been staring out the window until then, just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well nothing's gonna stop you from asking, but whether or not I'll answer is a completely different matter," he said, and Sebastian shot him a quick glare, as if to say _'really?'_before returning his eyes to the road. Kurt sighed. "Ask away, Sebastian, but I won't answer it if I don't want to."

"Fair enough. Why did you and Blaine break up?"

"What, you want to know why he didn't come asking for sex right after?" Kurt asked defensively.

"Not really, I know that ship sailed long ago. I just thought that you two were a kind of couple who'd always be together until you were married, raised an adopted daughter, and then grow old together and be buried right next to each other after you both died. But even if you two were only having one of those 'off' periods, you seemed so final about it, like there's no way in hell that you're gonna get back together again, so I'm curious."

Kurt hadn't really talked to anyone about just _why _he and Blaine had broke up; he hadn't wanted to because Rachel would try to make him feel better before plotting plans to get them back together, and Finn, despite being his brother, did actually like Blaine now, and it was terrible. So, Kurt didn't feel like he knew where his brother stood; as for Mercedes, she had become unreachable and just incapable to comprehend Kurt, and he didn't feel safe to open up to her anymore. Puck, despite how much of a friend he had come to be, loved his Klaine, and while he was the one who knew the most about the break up, he still was told next to nothing.

Kurt knew that he had closed himself off, and he did so to protect himself, so _he_ could move on with his life. To be perfectly honest, he was so _sick _of Lima and all the New Direction drama, and he just had to get out and get going. And that was something that he couldn't have done before.

"I guess we just outgrew each other," Kurt said and immediately realised that Sebastian had probably thought that he wouldn't answer. Hell, Kurt didn't know why he _was_ answering when he hadn't done it for anyone else. Perhaps, it was because Sebastian sort of maintained neutrality, more so than anyone else Kurt knew –– which was rather weird considering their history, but for whatever reason, Kurt actually wanted to give him a proper answer. Maybe it had something to do with the way he had asked or how he had said that no, he wasn't interested in Blaine anymore, or because Kurt overheard him talking to his mother or _whatever_, but... "If I had to pinpoint a specific time period, I guess that would be him starting to close himself off when he realised that I was going to New York. From there on, it just silently grew, and all the sudden I found us so far away from each other that I couldn't even _talk _to him. So yeah, I knew that I couldn't have a relationship like that."

"So, I had nothing to do with it?" Sebastian asked, and Kurt couldn't help but to laugh a little.

"No, quite the opposite, in fact. You see, you were threatening to take away what was _mine _which made me rather protective, as you might have noticed, and that was before the New York-factor really had hit him anyway, but I guess it was coming. Besides, you're the reason why we had sex when we did which I would say made us become closer..."

"_What?!_" Sebastian demanded, the shock on his face almost ridiculously funny. "How the hell could you say I was responsible for _that_."

"You and Arty made my boyfriend suddenly aware that sex could be nice because when I had talked to him about it _before _you two met, he was all 'that's why you have masturbation.' But all the sudden, he wanted to have sex with me in the back of my damn car after that night at Scandals and was sort of drunkenly mad when I refused. But then again, Blaine does become horny when he's drunk; the fact that he kissed Rachel about a year before and then thought that he was bisexual would be proof enough."

"Wait, Blaine kissed Berry?"

"It was spin the bottle in Rachel's cellar. It was just at the beginning of our friendship: they were both drunk for the first time, but then Rachel kissed him again when they were both sober, and he realised that no, he was gay, and thanked Rachel for helping him figure that out."

"Oh my God, he _thanked _her?" Sebastian laughed.

"Yepp, pity I was too much in love to tease him about it."

"Oh I know I will next time I see him."

"Please don't, he'll probably figure out that I told you because God knows that Rachel wouldn't."

"I won't make any promises," Sebastian said with a mischievous look in his eyes. "But don't you miss him?" he then asked, suddenly serious again.

"Yes and no? I don't know, I guess I miss being in a relationship, and I miss being in love with someone because I've sort of always had a crush on _someone _since I was a freshman, and now I have nothing. And I do miss him for some part. I miss the friend I had in him, and sometimes I just catch myself wanting to text him about something ridiculous Puck said or to rant about how Finchel is getting on my nerves. But at the same time, I want to move on, and perhaps I'll find a friend in him again someday hopefully."

"But you don't want to get married to him anymore?" Sebastian asked half jokingly, half seriously.

"No, but I still want him at my wedding. Am I making any sense?"

"I think so."

"Can I ask you something then?" Kurt asked suddenly because he sort of wanted to know something personal about Sebastian now that Sebastian knew something so personal about Kurt as his first serious relationship.

"Sure, but if I'll answer is a completely different matter," Sebastian replied with a smirk, throwing Kurt's own words up his face.

"Jerk," Kurt said simply, and Sebastian chuckled. "But seriously, did you live in France or something because you speak it really well, and I remember Blaine saying something about you and Paris some time ago."

It was rather odd because Sebastian, who had been rather, well not _relaxed_, but sort of easy when talking about Kurt and Blaine, suddenly tensed in a way Kurt had never seen before, and he hadn't even noticed that Sebastian had opened up until now that he had closed off.

"You really don't have to answer if you don't want to," Kurt added softly because he realised that he didn't want Sebastian to go back to his offensive, jerk-face, goddamn _annoying _default mood.

"No, it's just that –– " Sebastian broke off, and Kurt waited, giving him time. "I was born in the US and lived here for my first couple of years, but I don't remember anything of course. Then Maman and Dad decided to move to Paris where Maman came from, so that's where I really grew up. Dad was still a lawyer, and he worked a bit internationally and often travelled to the States for business, and everyone in my father's family lives here anyway, so sure, I spent many summers and Christmases here. And dad was really active in law and politics in Ohio and really good at what he did, so about a year ago he was approached by a rich lobbyist to run for a state attorney general's seat and Maman convinced him that he should try, so well, we moved here, so he could prove his devotion, and because he was brilliant he obviously won."

"You don't sound too happy about it," Kurt said.

"Well, how do you think I felt?" Sebastian snapped, his hands gripping hard around the steering wheel and his eyes glaring ahead. "No place in this damn country can measure up to Paris; I had to leave all my friends and have fucking Facebook telling me about all the things I'm missing, and not to mention that I _hate _American cuisine."

It was most definitely the wrong thing to do at the time, but Kurt snickered, _snickered_. And Sebastian noticed and send him a furious look before turning cold and looking at the road again.

"Sorry, sorry," Kurt said, beginning to explain himself. "It's just that you _had _to mention food because come on, it's hilarious. Especially since the French eat snails and frog legs and stuff like that."

"I'll have you know that frog legs are _awesome_ while deep-fried just-about-anything-you-can-imagine is _not_. And French cuisine has a lot more to offer than just snails and frog legs, t'es qu'un idiot d'Americain_._"

"Pour ta gouverne, je te rappelle que tu es aussi Americain, imbécile," Kurt shot back, and Sebastian fell of his track completely for a second, looking at Kurt with wide eyes.

"You speak French?" he almost faltered, and Kurt gave him a smirk of his own.

"I guess you could say that."

"I thought you went to a public school," Sebastian said, and Kurt couldn't help but to snort.

"You're such a preppy," Kurt responded. "If you want to learn something, you always find a way to do it. And a couple of months of Dalton's Advanced French class may or may not have helped," he added.

"Wait what? You've gone to Dalton?" Sebastian seemed completely taken by surprise by this information and sort of gave him a half-arsed shrug in return.

"It feel like forever ago, but yes, I did for a while. I, er, had some problems at McKinley, and Blaine helped me get into Dalton, and I went there for about four months before Santana managed to persuade me into coming back to McKinley. But yeah."

"Wow. I would want to see you in one of those blazers."

"But you won't," Kurt deadpanned. "I had to wear the same outfit for far too long, and I'm _not_doing it again."

Sebastian shot him a fond glance. "Of course you'd say that."

"Yes, of course I would, I mean you've been there, and the sea of blazers becomes too much after about two minutes, and then you feel like you're drowning in the crowd, and almost everyone has the same look and hairstyle, and it just suffocates any attempt at _individuality_."

"Jeez, had this conversation before, have you?" Sebastian said with a chuckle.

"_Maybe_. What I don't understand is why you seem so surprised about it though. I mean, it _is _me we're talking about."

"You're right, but almost everything you've done during this crazy trip has taken me by surprise, starting with still inexplicable knowledge of cars to pushing me off a goddamn bed."

"I'm never gonna get away with that one, am I?"

"While I don't fancy telling people that we shared a bed, I am so not letting you forget it, no."

It sounded oddly enough as a promise.

* * *

"_... t'es qu'un idiot d'Americain." - "... you stupid American."_

"_Pour ta gouverne, je te rappelle que tu es aussi Americain, imbécile," - "For your information, you're American too, smartarse."_


	15. Chapter 14

About three o'clock, Kurt took his turn to drive after taking a break at another station.

"I got another question for you," Sebastian said suddenly about fifteen minutes after Kurt ended up behind the wheel.

"Oh you do now, don't you?"

"Yes, don't be so smug about it."

"I am most definitely not smug about anything right now, Mister Smythe, so please restrain yourself from using adjectives that would fit yourself far better," Kurt protested in the most civil manner, but despite himself he was feeling rather smug when he saw a fond smile break out on Sebastian's face, knowing that _he_ was the one who caused it. Sebastian was nice when he smiled –– not smirked –– _smiled_, and the universe would have to forgive Kurt for feeling pleased with himself when he managed to get Sebastian to smile like that.

"Yeah yeah, but here's my question, since we kind of drove away from the topic before: was it really Blaine's fault that you did it when you did?" He sounded so sceptical when he said it, and Kurt got a sour taste in his mouth.

"You think that _I _was the one who was reluctant toward sex?"

"I _thought_," Sebastian corrected, "until you told me otherwise, or rather, I still think it was your part of the equation, but you seem so keen to prove me wrong, never mind the fact that you pushed me off a freaking bed because I was lying next to you."

"You were _hugging_ me, Sebastian, and don't you try to deny that you were! And _sure_, there may have been a time where I considered myself as sexual as a baby penguin, but that was _ages ago_, and I was mentally prepared for sex and just waited for Blaine to make a move that never happened."

"... until I stepped into the picture?"

"No, not even then." Sebastian looked confused, and Kurt paused for a moment just for the hell of it. "If you exclude the initiative he took while drunk, and I really don't think that it's a _bad_ thing to refuse to lose my virginity in my back seat when my boyfriend's under the influence of alcohol, then _I _made it happen after the première West Side Story by basically saying 'let's go to your empty house, Blaine'."

"I still find that hard to believe."

"Oh, _really _now."

"Yes. You're just so prude-ish, Princess, admit it. I bet you wait until the third date until you would even _consider_ holding hands with the guy, let alone _kiss _him, and let's not even mention sex."

"I am not _prude-ish_!"

"You so are though! You're uptight and so controlling, and I bet that you think that a soft peck is just about how sexy you can get, but it's not, it's a kindergarten base."

"Will you just _shut up_," Kurt snapped, but there was no stopping Sebastian when there was a fire in his eyes, and he smirked cruelly.

"I bet that it's the only thing you _can_ do, Hummel. Soft and sweet and slow, sex where you hold hands, but _only _after you're sure that you love each other, and it's so, so special."

"Why do you even _bother _to care about something that obviously doesn't concern you?!"

"You're in my eyesight, and the fact that that you're radiating _innocence _is exhausting. Do you even know how to appear sexy?"

"That's none of your damn business!" Kurt knew that he was blushing, and he cursed his pale skin. It was and _angry _blush because Sebastian was awful!

"So no then. But fine, you've only had sex with _one_ person, that's hardly any experience _at all_. And it was most likely ages ago too, and it was probably not even that great to start with, so God knows how terrible you must be at it now."

Kurt could see his knuckles turning white, as his grip tightened around the steering wheel, and he glared right ahead, somewhat thankful that he had to focus on the road, or else he might just end up doing something really stupid.

"Oh my God, you're _blushing_, aren't you?" Sebastian exclaimed. "You can't even _talk _about sex without feeling embarrassed, can you?"

Okay, that was fucking it!

Without giving it a second thought, Kurt pulled off the motorway at the exit that appeared right there and then, ignoring Sebastian's "What the fuck are you _doing_?!" and driving insanely fast on the rather small road that they ended up on. He soon spotted a gravelled road at the right which led to _nowhere_, with some large trees planted on the edge of the road, a little under a mile down. _Perfect_.

Kurt turned onto the small road, and while Sebastian had shut up, he looked absolutely confused and maybe a little frightened at what was happening when Kurt stopped by the trees and switched the engine off before unbuckling his belt.

"I'll show you sexy," Kurt murmured to Sebastian, and in one quick, graceful movement he took a hold of Sebastian's shoulders with both hands and swung himself over the gearbox, ending up in Sebastian's lap and pressing their lips together. Sebastian gasped, and Kurt used it to his advantage and shoved his tongue into Sebastian's mouth, really kissing him while his hands brushed over the other boy's shoulders and felt the admittedly strong muscles underneath before taking Sebastian's head in his hands and angling to deepen the kiss. The moan he got was loud and delicious, and soon he felt Sebastian pressing up into him, and his eyes finally fell shut, as Sebastian kissed back and started to run his hand over Kurt's lower back.

The touch was sending shivers up and down Kurt's back, and he caught himself growling into Sebastian's mouth which earned him Sebastian sucking his tongue and his grip tightening around Kurt, with his arms drawing him closer. Without a second thought, Kurt pulled away and smirked faintly against Sebastian's cheek at the whine that escaped the other boy, before he started to kiss his way down Sebastian's throat, sometimes sucking, sometimes biting tenderly into the soft skin, but never setting for a pattern to keep Sebastian on his toes. He felt Sebastian's hand tangling into his hair, breaking the hold of hairspray that kept his hair looking perfect, but Kurt couldn't even bring himself to care, as Sebastian stretched his neck, exposing his throat and giving Kurt better access.

Sebastian's muscles were solid but not _hard_ and harsh as one might think, and he was just so _warm_. His fingertips were almost electrifying, as Kurt felt them drag along his back and scalp, and he sucked on Sebastian's neck harshly, knowing that it would leave a mark for later.

Turning his head, Kurt brushed his lips over Sebastian's hand that had come to cup his cheek, kissing the soft skin of his palm, covering Sebastian's hand with his own, making sure that it wouldn't go away from his lips before finally opening his eyes. Sebastian was looking at him with wide, dark eyes; his mouth slightly parted, and it was only now, straddling Sebastian freaking _Smythe _that Kurt noticed the faint freckles on his cheeks, highlighted because of the pinkish flush across the boy's face. With what Kurt knew was a wicked smile, he gave Sebastian's fingers a quick lick, watching the emotions of lust and surprise flash across his face.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at Sebastian, daring to respond, and God, those eyes of Sebastian's were so _green,_and it made Kurt feel so damn proud of himself for making them look at him like he was the hottest thing in the world.

"Well, that was endearing," Sebastian said in a low voice that went straight to Kurt's cock before he lunged forward, attacking Kurt's lips and licking into his mouth, and Kurt let him, drawing a sharp breath through his nose before melting into the kiss. His hands flew back to Sebastian's head, entangling his hair and drawing their mouths tighter together, wanting _moremoremore_.

But far too soon Sebastian drew back a little, so they both could breathe, their mouths a mere inch apart and Kurt's forehead resting against Sebastian's. He felt Sebastian's hot breath ghost over his face, and it made him feel warm inside out, all the way from his toes, though his stomach and to his fingertips. Then Sebastian went for a little spot of exposed skin of Kurt's neck, sucking and licking and _oh._

His head tipped backwards, and one of his hands fisted the fabric of Sebastian's t-shirt while the other pulled a little in the boy's hair, not enough to hurt or to tell Sebastian to pull away, but as a reaction to a thrill running through Kurt's body and forcing a loud moan out of him.

"Fuck," Sebastian growled, _growled_, against his neck and then kissed his way up Kurt's jawbone before he reached the ear. "I gotta admit," he whispered, and Kurt shivered as his breath hit Kurt's skin. "The fucking noises you make are fucking sexy."

Oh hell, Kurt would never have guessed just how much having Sebastian whisper 'fucking' and 'sexy' into his ear was such a turn on, but there you have it. Partly because of the whispered words, partly because he was _fucking turned on_, and partly because he now knew that it turned _Sebastian _on, when Sebastian took him by surprise and cupped his arse, creating a feeling that Kurt could only describe as electrifying, Kurt let the hitch in his throat turn into another moan, even louder than before, and Sebastian answered with thrusting his hips up. As a result, their erections slammed together in a delicious friction that only made Kurt moan even louder into Sebastian's mouth before the other boy was pulling his bottom lip between his lips.

"Sure it's just my noises that makes you so hard for me?" Kurt whispered against Sebastian's lips, as they parted, and then boldly cupped Sebastian's hard-on through his jeans, stroking it firmly and watching as Sebastian let his head fall back against the headrest, a loud moan of his own slipping past his lips.

"Jesus fuck," Sebastian mumbled presumably more to himself than to anyone else, and then he tugged Kurt's t-shirt out of pants before shoving his hand down and cupping Kurt's arse again, skin against skin. The whole thing happened so fast, and _God_, Kurt just thrusted his hips blindly forward, moving his hand to support himself against Sebastian's shoulder, and Sebastian thrusted back, and it was _so good _but not nearly enough.

"You have really tight pants," Sebastian commented, as he squeezed Kurt's arse and _fuck_. "Could be a problem."

"Well, the problem contains the fucking solution, Sebastian. We could just take them off," Kurt replied, and as soon as he said it, the hand on his arse was removed, and Sebastian went to open his pants.

"_Fuck_," he said, "you go _commando_."

"Of course I do," Kurt snarled. "You think I can just walk around with underwear in these pants without getting lines?"

Sebastian just kissed him in response, and Kurt started to kick off his shoes, thanking himself for choosing footwear that was easy to remove for the trip. Reaching backwards and under the seat blindly, which earned him a confused look from Sebastian, Kurt managed to find the handle he was looking for, and with a pull, the passenger seat went backwards, leaving more space for Kurt to move. Sebastian seemed to get the idea, as he spread his legs to give Kurt more room and tugged his pants down, his eyes fixed on Kurt's hard cock.

Without a word, Sebastian pulled Kurt back to straddle him; his hands running up and down Kurt's thighs and hips, over his arse and up under his shirt, like he was mapping out Kurt's skin. It made Kurt shiver with arousal, and he bucked forward, which caused Sebastian to arch up enough, so he could pull his pants down.

Suddenly, there was nothing in between their swollen cocks, and they both moan at the friction, as Kurt stroked their cocks together with his hand. It was rough and a bit dry, and Kurt was just about to ask if Sebastian had anything when the other boy opened the armrest between the seats and pulled out a little bottle of lube, helping Kurt to take away the roughness.

Sebastian's hands were roaming Kurt's arse and back again, and without as much as a warning, he felt a slick finger press lightly against his hole, and Kurt's breath hitched because _fuck_. He let his head fall down on Sebastian's shoulder, and Sebastian's free arm pulled him closer. He could feel the other boy's chest rise and fall in a irregular panting, as Kurt continued stroking both their cocks.

"Is it..." Sebastian started in an almost whisper, but then moaned into Kurt's neck, as he brushed his thumb over the head of Sebastian's cock. But Kurt realised what he was about to ask, the waiting finger over his entrance was a question in itself.

Without saying a word, Kurt pressed his arse back onto Sebastian's finger while pulling in Sebastian's hair, his nails scratching over the scalp. Sebastian seemed to get the message, as he finally pressed his finger inside; Kurt couldn't suppress the groan that rumbled in his throat, and he bit down in the exposed skin of Sebastian's shoulder.

"Fuck!" Sebastian exclaimed and pressed his finger further in which only caused Kurt to bite down harder and stroke their _sofuckinghard_ cocks more roughly. It was almost like a dance that they performed together - one moved, and the other responded, effectively driving driving each other up the wall. Their movements became _faster-rougher-hotter_; Kurt desperately panting into Sebastian's neck, as the boy added another finger, and Sebastian thrusting up into Kurt's hand.

"So fucking tight," Sebastian murmured in a rough voice, and _fuck _if that didn't sound hot.

"Don't hear you complaining," Kurt answered and then straightened up enough to devour Sebastian's lips, taking his bottom lip in his mouth and sucking, swallowing the moan that escaped the boy. But then Sebastian's fingers that had been dragging in and out of his arse brushed over _that spot,_ and Kurt let out a cry, throwing his head back because holy _hell_. If Sebastian had a smug smirk on his face, Kurt couldn't tell and he didn't _care_ because he continued to touch Kurt's prostate every time he trusted his fingers back in, and all Kurt wanted was _more_.

When Sebastian started thrusting three fingers in, Kurt had had enough. "I think we need a condom right now," he said, and the other boy stilled him movements, much to Kurt's agony.

"Armrest," Sebastian said faintly before he twitched his fingers in a certain way, and Kurt shuddered in response. Following the instructions, Kurt stopped stroking their cocks together and reached out for a condom which he obtained fast enough. He tore the package open with his teeth, his hands too slippery or busy holding his balance around Sebastian's shoulders, and then rolled the condom onto Sebastian's cock.

Sebastian's fingers pulled out of him, and Kurt couldn't help but long for them, yet he steeled himself, as Sebastian's hands came to rest around his hips helping him up - a silent promise that something far more satisfying was about to come. Slowly he pressed down onto Sebastian's cock, feeling how it came to fill him inch by inch, and he panted out small puffs of air, as he heard Sebastian growl underneath him. His fingers clenched Sebastian's shirt and hair, and he felt Sebastian's lips against his neck, gently sucking and licking and leaving Kurt no other choice but to tilt his head to let Sebastian continue.

"God," Sebastian groaned, as he kissed across Kurt's jaw before catching his lips with his own, then licking into Kurt's mouth and gently pulling him down. Kurt didn't quite know what to do with himself; he was hyper aware of being completely surrounded by Sebastian, from every swipe of his tongue against Kurt's to the thick cock inside of him, and it was so much, and yet he needed _more_. As if Sebastian had read his mind, he suddenly trusted his hips up, hard and fast, and Kurt gave out a cry against his lips.

They stayed just like that for a moment, Sebastian's cock inside his tight arse, his tongue slowly licking Kurt's swollen lips and their hands and arms around each other, holding tight. But then Kurt started to push himself up, drawing Sebastian out, and Sebastian's lips leaved his. He stopped when only the tip of Sebastian's cock was still inside of him, and he finally looked down at the other boy whose lust-blown eyes were looking up at him, waiting for him. It all made Kurt's heart beat faster in his ribcage, and without a second thought he pushed down, feeling the delicious friction and _fuck_.

Maybe because it had been forever since he had sex, maybe it was how Sebastian smelled of citrus as he inhaled the scent of his hair, maybe it was the way Sebastian met him with a thrust and how they moaned loudly in union, but for whatever reason, something snapped inside of Kurt, and he started to move urgently, fucking himself on Sebastian's cock. Sebastian didn't seem to mind though, as he thrusted up as well as he could into Kurt's arse and wrapped him strong arms around Kurt's waist, pushing him down. Kurt must have made some kind of noise or something to accompany Sebastian's growl. Riding Sebastian became fast, hard and dirty,as they moved together, and soon he was close, _so fucking close_, waves of pleasure washing through him.

"You're so fucking hot, Kurt," Sebastian panted, as he looked into Kurt's eyes, and that's all it took before he was coming all over Sebastian's shirt, his head falling back as he groaned. He felt Sebastian shudder underneath him, and then he let his head fall onto Kurt's shoulder as he came too.

"And this was your plan all along when you pulled off the motorway, huh?" Sebastian mumbled after a moment into Kurt's shoulder, and Kurt chuckled, his post-orgasmic glow making him lazy and giggly.

"Not really," he admitted. "But you're not allowed to ever call me unsexy or prude-ish ever again, Smythe."

"I think I can live with that," Sebastian answered with a certain glint in his eyes that Kurt couldn't label, but he didn't care too much, as he smiled back down at him.


	16. Chapter 15

It had been a long time since Kurt had had sex before his adventure with Sebastian in the car today. Apparently _really _long time, too –– the closer they got to New York, the more did Kurt feel how his arse was starting to hurt. By the time they had parked the car in a nearby multi-storey car park and were dragging their butts to Kurt and Rachel's flat, Kurt was half in agony.

After the, well, _car sex_, Sebastian had changed shirt, and Kurt had fixed his hair and pulled out a scarf to cover the hickey that was beginning to show on his neck. Sebastian, however, didn't really have a scarf of any kind to cover _his_ hickey with, which was larger and far more visible than Kurt's by the way, and he merely shrugged and said that it was too warm to wear a hoodie or something when Kurt asked him about it. But as they arrived in New York, Sebastian had actually pulled out a navy blue hoodie with Dalton's logo on it and pulled it over his head, even though it wasn't _such __a _cold evening, and Kurt had watched him with suspicion.

They didn't say a word about the fact that they had just had sex with each other after they started to drive again. But there wasn't an awkward silence or a strained atmosphere in the car either; they had still talked about more or less anything under the sun, like what the apartment looked like (a flat with one bathroom, two bedrooms and a combined kitchen with living area), what kind of film genre was the best (Kurt said musicals of course, while Sebastian claimed that it was physiologic thrillers), Kurt's time in the Warblers, and who was the most and least annoying of the club, some news from Dalton too, and let's not forget _food_. Sebastian knew a lot about the subject, as it turned out; not so much about how to cook it, but the more about what was delicious and what was disgusting. He told Kurt bits and pieces about his life in France and how his grandmother made the most sinful lemon cake in the world, or how one time he made it his mission to see everything at The Louvre in one single day, and just how much his feet had hurt afterward. These opinions and small tales of the past made Sebastian far more human than Kurt ever thought possible.

But seriously. How the hell was he supposed to sit down without wincing as soon as they got to the apartment, and furthermore, how the fuck was he going to withhold the fact that he had a cock up his arse earlier today?! He was positive that it would show just by the way he walked, and he most certainly did _not _want Rachel to figure it out and tell Finn about it (Finn wouldn't know the signs even if they were under his nose, shining brightly in neon light).

Perhaps this is what you got after about three months without having sex with either your boyfriend when you had one and then absolute of _nothing_ once you had broken up –– not to mention that you topped the at least last five times you _did _have sex.

Kurt stopped his internal musing once they reached the apartment though because he knew that he had to be most focused if he was going to make it through an encounter with Sebastian, Rachel and Finn –– none of them would show him mercy in any way, never mind that it was 11 PM.

Sebastian followed him quietly up the stairs, and Kurt savoured the moment, taking a deep breath before opening the door to his flat (which Rachel had assured him would be open when he had talked to her over the phone, announcing their arrival). As soon as he had stepped inside, he found himself standing with an armful of _Rachel_ who was squealing "_Kurt!_" loudly into his ear. He probably would have lost his balance there for a moment if it wasn't for a steady hand on his back, gently supporting him.

"Hello to you too, Rachel," he said and hugged her back, as he felt the hand withdraw.

"I missed you!" she declared, and goodness, it was far too late for such a loud voice.

As if sent from above, and probably unconsciously so, Finn came to the rescue. "Hi bro!" he said happily, grinning at Kurt while he reached for his suitcase. "Nice seeing you."

"You too, Finn." Kurt smiled at him, as Rachel let him go, and yes, it was actually nice to see his brother and his best friend. Despite their capability to get on his nerves, he had missed them both. As they were pulling him in and asking questions about the trip, Kurt turned around to find Sebastian still by the door, looking a bit lost.

"Well, come inside and close the damn door, Smythe," he said in a teasing tone and felt something warm wash over him, as he saw how the tension around Sebastian dropped, and he stepped inside and smirked at Kurt.

"I don't think I dare," he said with a little tired grin while kicking off his shoes (Kurt tried to ignore how roughly Sebastian handled his admittedly fine shoes for the sake of his sanity). He trailed after Kurt and company, as they walked into the kitchen.

"You must be starving, right?" Rachel asked and went over to the fridge; there was no doubt in Kurt's mind that she had prepared some vegan food in advance.

"Not really, we both ate around dinner time. I think I really need some sleep right now." He looked over at Sebastian, and yeah, the other boy looked tired too. "I'll help you pull out the sofa?" he asked Sebastian and got a soft "yeah," as he walked across the room.

"Brought those linens with you?" he asked when they started taking away the pillows and laying them in a neat pile by the side.

"Yeah, someone more or less blackmailed me, threatening with shaving off my hair and telling my father, so I thought it'd be wise to actually bring my own damn linens," Sebastian answered and started to dig through his bag for them while Kurt pulled out the bed. He didn't really need Sebastian's help with the sofa itself, it was just that he did not fancy making Sebastian's bed and therefore dragged him along.

He found Sebastian giving the sofa a calculating look before raising an eyebrow at Kurt. "And where did you actually purchase this sofa bed?"

"Why, something wrong with it?" Kurt asked defensibly –– Sebastian would just _dare_ to say something patronizing about that sofa; a really nice sofa with its simple but elegant design and black fabric.

"No no, just trying to satisfy my burning curiosity," Sebastian assured, and Kurt eyed him critically.

"Rachel?" he called, and yeah, sure enough, suddenly Rachel was by his side, looking ready for battle (and Kurt didn't doubt for a second that she had listened to their entire conversation). "Where did we get the sofa?"

She hesitated for a second, like she wasn't sure whether the answer would help Kurt or not, but in the end opened her mouth and said, "At IKEA."

Whatever reaction she was expecting, it probably didn't include Kurt bursting out in a surprised laughter and Sebastian grinning smugly.

"Oh my God, it just had to be IKEA, of all places," he said astonished to himself, shaking his head. "You knew that, didn't you?" he asked Sebastian.

"I guessed," he admitted.

Rachel looked as confused as ever. "Kurt, help me fetch some pillows?" she demanded because no, that wasn't even a question, how ever much it might look like one.

"Sure," he said and caught Sebastian's amused expression before following Rachel into her room where they kept all the extra pillows and duvets and so on (since there was no way in hell that they would take up the oh so precious space in Kurt's closet). He heard the toilet flush as they went past the bathroom, only confirming where Finn was before Kurt started to wonder.

"What was that all about?" Rachel jumped on him, as soon as she closed the door.

"I guess you can call it an inside joke," Kurt said, opening her closet and starting to hand her a duvet that neither of them really liked –– it would suit Sebastian just fine.

"You're sharing inside jokes with _Sebastian_?"

"I've spent over twenty four hours with him, and _something _was simply bound to come up which we both could laugh about."

"And that something is IKEA."

"Yes," Kurt deadpanned. "A long story which I'd rather not tell you right now because I wasn't joking when I said I was tried."

"But _IKEA_, Kurt! That's just downright weird."

Kurt chuckled at her obvious distress. "I'll tell you tomorrow, I promise, but it probably won't make it any weirder." He smiled at her and grabbed a couple of pillows before closing the closet again and walking back to Sebastian.

"Right, Finn's in the bathroom now, Rachel or I am next, and you're the last man because if there's one thing I've learnt, it is that you take _forever _in there."

"Your hospitality is touching, Hummel." Sebastian accepted the pillows when Kurt handed them over and had already made his bed.

"Well, it's a joy having you over," Kurt replied sarcastically, as Rachel placed the duvet on the sofa; clearly she didn't feel comfortable without knowing how to act around Kurt and Sebastian's banter, so she quickly walked away, mumbling something that resembled a "good night".

"You could think that I traumatised her or something," Sebastian mused out loud looking at her closed bedroom door, and Kurt chuckled.

"No, she's just surprised that I appear to stand you. She'll be over it by tomorrow," he assured him.

"What is this?" Sebastian asked, dramatically placing a hand over his heart. "Does Kurt Hummel stand my presence?"

Kurt felt all his colour drain from his face when he realised what he just said. He just _had _to use those exact words that his dad once said, didn't he? It had all come out so naturally, which was odd in itself since he was usually so cautious when it came to who he could stand or not. Well, this was _wonderful._

Sebastian, unable to hear Kurt's inner monologue of devastation, watched him in silence, but when he tilted his head to the side, looking at Kurt like he thought he had broken him, Kurt realised that he had been silent for far too long.

"I said 'appear', didn't I?" Kurt finally managed, and something flashed over Sebastian's face, something very much like hurt, but it was gone as quickly as it came, and Sebastian's face went blank before Kurt could know for sure. "Good night, Sebastian," he said and turned to his room, ignoring the pang of regret when he didn't get a response.


	17. Chapter 16

With a jerk, Kurt was suddenly wide awake, reaped from his dreams by the blasting sound of his phone going off. Damn, he was so not up for this right now he thought, as he reached for his phone and pressed the green button without looking who was disturbing his peace.

"'ello?" he said with a yawn.

"Did I wake you, Kiddo?" Burt chuckled at the other end on the phone.

"Yeah," Kurt answered, falling back into his gloriously comfortable pillows. "What time is it?"

"Well, it's about ten past ten or something like that."

"Oh God," Kurt mumbled. He rarely slept this long, always up by half past eight at the latest.

"So, yesterday tired you out quite a bit, huh?" Burt asked, and thank freaking _God_ (that he did not believe in, but it was a way of speaking he told himself) that his father couldn't see his panicked face when he for a split of a second thought that Burt was referring to his and Sebastian's little adventure in the car on the way. Oh goodness, he _fucked_ himself on Sebastian yesterday, quite literally. And he would have to see Sebastian today too, not to mention that the Warbler seemed somewhat angry at him or something the last thing he remembered, and he would have to deal with that as well. _Why _couldn't things just be easy for once?

Meanwhile, Burt had taken Kurt silence for tiredness and gently continued talking about oh how much he and the other grown ups looked forward to their arrival, and oh yeah, he had talked to Rachel and Finn and agreed to let them have one more day in New York before hitting the road again ––

" –– wait, what was that last thing again?" Kurt suddenly interrupted, and although he couldn't see it, he could practically _hear _how Burt was shaking his head fondly.

"I said that I talked to your brother and Rachel last night after you had gone to bed, and the three of us agreed that you should stay another night in New York and start driving again tomorrow since you and Sebastian were obviously very tired, and the other two hadn't finished packing yet it seemed."

"Oh," was all Kurt could come up with.

"And that's why no one woke you up until now, I'm sorry that I woke you since you're obviously tried, bud."

… and back to the inappropriate thoughts. Kurt shook his head; away thoughts, _away!_

"No, it's fine," he assured his father while dragging his hand through his hair. "But I should probably get up now anyway, who knows what's going on on the other side of my door..."

Burt chuckled. "Go and stop wars, son. Carole says hello."

"Oh, give her my regards. Bye dad, love you."

"Love you too, Kurt. I'll see you in a couple of days."

"Yeah, bye."

After that he went straight to the bathroom before going back to his room and composing a wonderful outfit that that he put on. He was now ready to face the world.

Rachel spotted him as soon as he stepped into the the combined-kitchen-and-living-room and loudly exclaimed, "Kurt! Finally! I didn't want to wake you, but I really, really need your help to decide what to bring. I mean I don't know what the climate is in Canada and Finn's useless –– "

"Coffee," Kurt drawled, feeling very heavy all the sudden, and dragged his way to the coffee machine. Thank the divine awesomeness of Gaga, there was already coffee waiting for him in the pot.

Rachel pressed her mouth into a thin line and stared at him, thankfully quietly, as he made his coffee and sat down at the table. He sipped his java for a few minutes, slowly but oh so pleasantly feeling himself reach absolute consciousness, and after awhile he finally looked back at Rachel.

"Now, what were you saying?" he asked softly.

"I need your help to pick out my clothes!"

"Sweetie, we both know how this will turn out, I will say something, you will disagree, you will pick something, I will ask why it hasn't been burned yet, and you will defend whatever horrid creation you have in your possession. I think we're better off without me helping you, Rachel." He smiled a little at her, tilting his head to the side. "Beside, lest you were out shopping in my absence, I reckon I somewhat approve about 80 percent of your wardrobe, so you should be fine."

"But Kurt..." she whined, but he shook his head.

"No no, you need to do this yourself, and I need not to do it for you, so it's something we both have to go through together." He grabbed her hand across the table and looked intensely into her eyes, and Rachel giggled.

"Feels like we're waging some war," she said with a smile.

"Wait, aren't we? The Epic Fight Against Rachel Berry's Horrid Animal Sweaters, our battle shall be _legendary!_" he said in a dramatic voice, gesturing with his free hand before taking a look at Rachel's face and started to laugh.

"Perhaps you should have stayed in bed, Kurt, I think you're still half asleep."

"As that may be, my Lady, I still won't help you, and I'll toast to that." Then he did and took another sip before smiling wickedly at her. "But if you don't acquire my assistance for your first award or whatever, I might just force feed you the meat."

Rachel gaped. "That's a terrible thing to say!"

"So don't do it." He smiled sweetly at her, and she looked like she didn't quite know whether to take him seriously on not, and that was a good thing he reckoned (he would really take revenge on her if she didn't let him help her on such an occasion).

Rachel was quick to return to her packing after that, and all the sudden it was very quiet. Kurt let his gaze sweep across the room until it landed on the pile of blanket, pillows and Sebastian currently residential on his sofa. He wondered whether he was awake or not since he didn't really know if the other boy was a heavy sleeper and managed to sleep through Rachel's rampage or just pretended to.

Quietly, he got up from his seat and made another cup of coffee, the way he _thought _Sebastian would like it; Sebastian seemed like a latte-person to Kurt, so a little more milk than his father would like, but not too much so it took away the bitterness of the coffee. He debated on adding sugar, but decided not to and just ask if Sebastian wanted any. Better safe than sorry.

With his own cup his in other hand, he went over to the sofa and sat down on the edge, presumably on the half where Sebastian's head rested.

"You got to wake up now, Smythe," he said and watched the pile move and heard a groan rumble from within.

"Don' wanna..."

"Stop being so childish. I made you coffee."

Suddenly, a head a appeared, as Sebastian kicked away the covers enough to glare at Kurt suspiciously. When he saw the coffee cup, he reached out for it, but Kurt pulled it away.

"Not until you sit up properly, I do not want any stains in my sofa."

"Fine _mum_," Sebastian grumbled but sat up nevertheless, and Kurt handed the cup over and then took a sip of his own. When he looked back at Sebastian to ask if he wanted sugar, he found the meerkat staring down at the coffee as if there was something wrong with it before looking back up at Kurt.

"What?" Kurt demanded.

"How do I know that you didn't put something in here or just made it disgusting or something?" Sebastian said, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Really now," he muttered before reaching forward and covering Sebastian's grip around the cup with his own gently, then leaning forward to bring it up to his lips and taking a sip. He didn't exactly know why he did it like this, he could just have argued back, but the thrill that ran through his spine,as he drew back and met Sebastian's green eyes, was enough to make him regret nothing. Somehow this seemed a lot more intimate than what they had done in the car yesterday, but Kurt pushed that train of thought away, as he let go of Sebastian's cup and sat up straight. "See, perfectly drinkable," he assured in what he hoped was a steady voice and then turned his attention back to his own coffee, ignoring how Sebastian's stare was drilling holes into him.

In the corner of his eye, he saw how Sebastian moved to sip his coffee, and he felt a bit relieved.

"Do you want sugar, by the way?" he asked looking more at the cup of coffee in Sebastian's hand than at the boy himself.

"Huh? No, it's fine as it is."

"Okay."

A few minutes passed where neither of them said a thing, and Kurt couldn't determine if the silence was easy or strained, but all the sudden, so quiet he almost missed it, he heard a soft "Thank you" slip Sebastian's lips.

"You're welcome," he said just as softly and finally felt himself completely relaxing. Yeah, things were good between him and Sebastian –– or well, as good as it was possible for them to be.

"So what's today's agenda, Mister Compulsive Organizer?" Sebastian asked after a while, and Kurt found himself more amused than annoyed by the new nick-name. Oh well, Sebastian has just woken up, so he wasn't perhaps awake enough to come with some real insults.

"The folks in Canada and Finchel decided that we'll all stay one more day in New York before going tomorrow because Finchel haven't packed yet, and we were already tired."

"For obvious reasons," Sebastian said with a smirk, and the double meaning of his words did not escape Kurt, but he decided to ignore them since Finn and Rachel were in hearing distance.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked instead.

"Are you trying small talk on me?"

"No, I'm just curious if the sofa's comfortable or not."

"Well, it's very hard, and I had a heck of a time trying to sleep with your roommate and brother rampaging around the place."

"That's great to hear, thanks." Kurt smiled sweetly at him, and Sebastian made a face which only caused them both to chuckle.

"Question though. Since those two will be packing, what will we do all day?" Sebastian asked. It was perhaps odd, but the 'we' that slipped Sebastian's mouth so easily really caught Kurt off guard, and he felt a flutter in his stomach.

"New York is right outside that window, and you're asking me what we're gonna do?" Kurt responded nodding his head toward the window.

"Are you saying that we should just leave them here while they pack and have fun?"

"Oh I said no such thing, only you did, Smythe." He knew that he was grinning, but as a probably equally fond grin grew on Sebastian's face he didn't give a damn. "But now that you say it, let's go and get some real new yorker breakfast. Get dressed."

"Whatever you say, Princess."


	18. Chapter 17

"So what's the plan after this, Princess?" Sebastian asked after they had gotten their orders and settled down at a small table in the corner of the coffee shop they found.

"I actually have no idea," Kurt admitted and laughed at Sebastian's surprised face. "I can be impulsive you know."

"Do I?" Sebastian asked with an amused face. "Or is this just a plan in which you _tell _that you can be impulsive and for every sense of the word appear like you are, but then you sneakily make things go your way so we still follow that schedule that you have typed down on your phone?"

"I guess you'll never know..."

Sebastian seemed to think it over, and after a while he looked back up from his breakfast with a mischievous grin on his face. He almost looked like a sly child with a master plan. "Okay, then how about _I _decide where we should go after we're gone here then?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him out of pure principle really before answering, "Sure, where do you want to go?"

"You'll have to wait and see."

"Oh no, how shall I ever endure not knowing where I'm going!" Kurt exclaimed over-dramatically and acted like he was about to faint.

"I do not know, your fair Highness, it is something only the future holds," Sebastian answered in a very aristocratic tone, sitting straight in his chair. He then brought his cup of coffee to the mouth, his little finger straight out like any good aristocrat would do. And goodness, if that didn't crack Kurt up.

"I'm a 'fair Highness'?" he said through his laughter.

"Well 'Princess' felt a bit informal, so I felt that I had to kick it up a notch."

"You're ridiculous."

Sebastian just grinned at the accusation, before changing subject.

"I realised that I don't know what are you going to do when you actually move to New York?" he asked, and Kurt looked down at his food.

"My plan was to get into NYADA together with Rachel and study..."

"... but?" Sebastian said, and Kurt looked up again, a bit surprised, and Sebastian just shrugged.

"But I didn't get in."

"So now what?"

"At first I was devastated," Kurt admitted, leaning back into his chair and looked blankly at nothing. "But then I figured that the dream I had wasn't so much the school but New York itself, and NYADA was just a way to get here more than anything else. You get where I'm going?"

Sebastian nodded but still looked a bit puzzled by it, all so Kurt continued. He needed Sebastian to understand this.

"It was really that I wanted to get out of Lima more than anything because even though it sounds terrible, I feel that everything there holds me back, both my friends and the limited possibilities. And even though I don't know exactly what I'll do when I get here, I know that it will be far better than anything back there. I'll probably work, and I'll apply for internships at different places. When the time comes, I'll reapply to NYADA, and probably other schools too, because really, it was silly of me to only apply to one school and go along with Rachel's 'all or nothing' idea."

"But what if you don't get in the second time either?"

"Then it won't be the end of the world because I could be accepted to another school and maybe have some other alternative, like a job or something. All I know is that I will make it work."

"But what if it doesn't?" Sebastian demanded, his whole posture defensive for some reason which only caused Kurt to frown.

"It will," he assured. "Sure, it might not be easy, but it will work."

"How do you even know that?"

"I don't," he said, and Sebastian opened his mouth to say something, but Kurt continued talking, meeting Sebastian's eyes. "I don't, but I do know that if I don't try then I will just end up being miserable, and that's even worse. I can't just expect life to work out on its own; I have to keep going myself, or else I'll just be stuck in Lima forever, and that's not even an alternative."

"But what if you misjudge something, and everything goes wrong?" Sebastian asked, almost like a plea.

"Then I'll learn from my mistakes and try to make the best out of the situation. If I were to give up on my dreams, it's like giving up on life itself, and I've worked too hard and come too far to give up now."

Sebastian looked away then, playing with the edge of his napkin, and Kurt couldn't help but notice how he was closing himself off, drawing into himself. In some sense, it was a bit odd how fast Kurt had learnt to read certain parts of Sebastian's behaviour and see more than the cocky smirk he had always seemed to wear before. But then again, they had never really talked to one another before –– neither deep and personal thoughts about life, nor random opinions about lemon cake vs cheesecake.

"What do you want to do when you graduate?" Kurt asked, and yes, he knew that he was pushing it, for Sebastian's whole manner screamed that he wanted to talk about something else, _anything _else. Nonetheless, Kurt felt that he absolutely needed to hear Sebastian share something about his own dreams and future.

"Go to college or university I suppose." Sebastian shrugged.

"And study what?"

"I don't know, okay?!" Sebastian snapped. Any other person would probably have backed down at the angry, green eyes glaring holes into them or the stiff posture that screamed '_don't go there__,' _but Kurt wasn't just anyone, and he hadn't lived through four years of New Direction drama for nothing –– on top of that, he also knew that getting angry himself would get him nowhere.

"And that's fine, Sebastian," he said with a clear voice, trying to keep it from shaking and show that yes, he was nervous. "You still got time to figure out what you want to do after Dalton."

"Oh do I now?" Sebastian asked critically.

"Of course you do, it's never too late to decide what to do with yourself."

"You're just saying that because you know exactly where you want to go in life," Sebastian argued.

"So? I still need to find my way just like anyone else, while you have the opportunity to choose just whatever you feel like doing. It's not burden to not know what you want to do, Sebastian."

The look on Sebastian's face was one he had seen before –– on Finn when Kurt had tried to convince him to apply to something. He knew that Sebastian wouldn't listen to him right now even if he had a point in what he was saying, so there was no use trying.

They ate more or less in silence after that, and it was _okay_. Kurt didn't need to talk to Sebastian all the time - it was nice just sitting there with him, even if he knew that Sebastian was probably still wound up because of their conversation. Somewhere along the way, Kurt came to realize that when Sebastian was ready or had something to say, he would talk, and until then Kurt simply enjoyed the silence. As it happened, their conversation really picked up again after they had left the coffee shop, and Kurt recognised that they were on their way to Time Square.

"Okay, where are you taking me?" Kurt demanded.

"You'll see," Sebastian replied in a sing-song voice. "We're almost there anyway."

"Oh really?"

"Yup. Here we are!" He gestured toward the glass building in front of them, and Kurt felt his stomach twitch, as he saw ahuge sign that silently shouted _'M&M's World!' _loudly in his face.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm so not. You have to visit the M&M store when you're in New York, Kurt," Sebastian said while fondly rolling his eyes and walking toward the entrance.

"I wasn't even aware that such place excited..." Kurt mumbled, as he followed inside –– God, the two story shop of M&M's. "I feel like I'm sightseeing with Finn."

"Oh come on, it's M&M, this is wonderful!" Sebastian smirked at him.

"Never been too keen on M&M, prefer biscuits."

"You're weird, Kurt," Sebastian said all matter of fact-y.

"No, I'm fabulous, Sebastian, learn to tell the difference."

This half-banter of theirs was far more enjoyable than the shop because Kurt half felt like scratching his eyes out because of the bold colours that just screamed children's toys to him. Really, whenever he decided to adopt a child with whoever lucky man he might have at the time, he'll swear right here and now that that child will learn proper chromatology and colour coordination as soon as he or she can hold on to a crayon.

"Oh look Kurt, you can mix together your own blend over there," Sebastian said, like he had read Kurt's thoughts.

"Out of the way, I need to do that for my sanity," Kurt declared and went straight to it. He figured while standing there and picking the right colours with Sebastian who was smirking at his side and making some off-hand comment about him still being an over-controlling fashionista, that he might even attempt to eat this bag of M&M –– it had a brilliant colour coding after all.

"I don't see why you're being so opposed to coordinate colours, so they look good together," said Kurt, as he waited for Sebastian to make his personal mix (and a terrible one he did too, just mixing colours that did _not_work together).

"Kurt, it's candy," Sebastian deadpanned. "While I _understand _the need to match clothes, this is M&M's. You're only gonna eat it."

"How can you even say something like that?" Kurt questioned him. "You're half French –– you should know that you eat as much with your eyes as with your mouth."

"Of course I do, that's why I don't have sex with ugly guys."

Kurt felt how he was turning scarlet at the words, but thank freaking goodness, Sebastian had turned away and wandered off somewhere with his back to Kurt. He really didn't like to think about the thing in the car with Sebastian around –– not that he regretted it; he was surprised that he didn't, but he wouldn't take that back for anything –– no, it was just that he didn't consider it so appropriate to think about having sex with Sebastian in the middle of a M&M store with children running around, shouting for candy. In fact, it was goddamn terrible to think of it, because now that Kurt had acknowledged Sebastian's obvious and always present sex appeal, it was really hard to think of anything else. And Kurt had sincerely wished that he wouldn't have any side effects of the sex now that the ache in arse had settled over the night. But no, his subconscious had decided to differ.

It was a bad idea to ponder over Sebastian like that though, Kurt tried to tell himself. Because even if Sebastian was admittedly human, he was still Sebastian Smythe Who Likes Sex More than Anything, and while what had happened in the car had been nice (and Kurt did not regret it), it probably wouldn't happen again.

It was not like Kurt was one of Sebastian's conquests since they started off disliking one another rather profoundly, and that hadn't changed when they had left Ohio. And Kurt didn't like to think of either himself or Sebastian as so desperate for relief that they just _settled _for the other. Kurt had lived far too long without sex, so he knew how to do it, and that while sex was a wonderful thing, it wasn't that much of a necessity; as for Sebastian, he could get sex both back in Ohio or here in New York. And really, if Puck could survive for a week without sex, than so could Sebastian.

In the end, what happened with Sebastian was something that just _happened_, and Kurt really didn't know where it would lead to. He wasn't interested in a fuck buddy - it felt so primitive and crude and very much like throwing oneself away.. Not to mention that having Sebastian as a booty call would indeed complicate things, at least in Kurt's mind where Sebastian was a unsorted person whom he just happened to know. Furthermore, most of his friends still despised the boy, and it would all just cause unnecessary ruckus.

And those were really the only two reasons that Kurt could think that he and Sebastian would have sex again out of desperation or to become fuck buddies - neither of which he would agree to.

The only other thing that would lead them to having sex again was if there was more to it –– but Kurt knew that something like that would never happen; his sexy travelling companion was still Sebastian Smythe who didn't _do_ relationships, and there was nothing to suggest that the two of them could make it work anyway. But watching the easy smirk on Sebastian's face when he teasingly asked Kurt if his mind was on vacation when Kurt took a little too long to get to the counter and pay for his M&M begged to differ, and yeah, Kurt reconsigned that thrill that ran through him but _no no no no_, he mustn't think of Sebastian like that! It would only cause him heartache because Sebastian would never return feelings like that.

For once in his life, could he _not _fall for the first guy who acted somewhat decent toward him?!

"So what's the plan now?" Sebastian asked after they walked out of the store.

Kurt threw him a estimating look before he felt himself smirk at the meerkat. "We're going shopping, loser."

* * *

_A/N: Oh yeah, and that M&M store actually __**do **__exist __ (thank you Soph for telling me about it!) __–– unlike the IKEA in DuBois_

_Also, important note; this isn't the finished story (obviously, I mean **why** would I end my fanfiction **here** of all places?) But the thing is that my beta reader haven't had the time to edit the entire work before today, and since I value her health over posting LIAR on time, I simply posted what I got. It's still 17 chapters and an prologue, and a hell of a lot to read already, so I figured that little was better than nothing. Needless to say, I'll post the rest of the fanfic as soon as possible ;)  
_


	19. Chapter 18

"You're gonna like this," Kurt told Sebastian, as they were making their way back to the apartment and had just stepped out of the underground.

"Okay, what?"

"Rachel just texted and said that she and Finn are going out on a date for their_ 'last night in New York,'_ just the two of them, that there are leftovers in the fridge, and basically that we get the whole apartment for ourselves."

"You're kidding me, right?" Sebastian was staring at him with wide eyes, like Kurt held the answer to one of his prayers, and Kurt couldn't help but to smile at the image.

"Just read it yourself," he said and handed the phone over.

"_Rachel Barbara Berry; 6:23 PM_," Sebastian read out loud, "_Kurt! Me and Finn are going on a date for our last night in New York. I'm so, so sorry for leaving you with that douche of a boy, but you went out with him today anyway, so I'm guessing you have some secret method that keeps you from poisoning his coffee or something. You'll have to tell me about it later, but we're leaving now, and there's still some pie in the fridge if you want. Don't wait up!"_ Sebastian handed the phone back with a critical look in his eyes. "You're gonna poison me?"

"Nope, but if you have a death wish, I guess I can help you to Rachel's vegan pie –– not that it's bad, but you don't strike me as someone who would appreciate it."

"Damn right I wouldn't. Vegetarian I can accept, but vegan is just downright silly."

"I'm not gonna have this argument with you, so take it up with Rachel tomorrow."

"Oh the joy!" Sebastian exclaimed overly happily. "Talking to _Rachel_, oh, I can hardly wait, say Kurt _why_ isn't it tomorrow yet?"

"Did I detect a bit of sarcasm there?" Kurt asked fondly.

"Damn right you did."

"Okay, so I propose take-out then. Chinese, Indian, sushi or pizza?"

"Oh come on, Kurt, you just went through Asia and then you had to go and ruin it with the pizza..."

"So not pizza then? And I don't feel like Indian, so Chinese or sushi."

"I am not eating raw fish, Chinese it is."

"Okay, now we have to find a place to buy it too," Kurt mused out loud, looking around.

It wasn't too hard to find a takeout place with Chinese nearby, _'only shows what an unhealthy lifestyle Americans live'_ Sebastian helpfully pointed out, and they were soon back at the apartment with food and shopping bags (because yes, even though Sebastian was indeed reluctant, Kurt went shopping, and Sebastian had tagged along).

"How about watching something while eating?" Sebastian suggested, as they walked inside.

"And sit on your unmade bed?" Kurt asked skeptically, but Sebastian only shrugged. "Sure, it's you who's going to sleep there."

"But I'll pick the film," Sebastian said, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Of course you will," he mumbled. "Well, you do that, and I'll change into something comfortable because I'm so not sitting on a bed eating Chinese in these glorious pants."

When he got back to Sebastian, he found that the other boy had already gone through Rachel's collection of films (Kurt hadn't brought his yet), and he looked at the case that was lying on the edge of the sofa-bed while Sebastian popped a DVD into the player.

"_Mamma Mia_, really?" Kurt asked as he sat down.

"Well, there's been so much talk about IKEA, so I thought it would be appropriate to watch something else that's originally Swedish," Sebastian said with a shrug, as he settled down next to Kurt. "Besides, I only found musicals and rom-cons anyway."

As the film played on the screen, Kurt hummed with the songs while eating his noodles, but he felt more and more drowsy as the film went on –– probably from getting full about halfway through it and from having walked around all day. So thinking back, it really wasn't that much of a surprise that he fell asleep right there in the sofa, next to Sebastian, before Meryl Streep got to sing _The Winner Takes it All_.

* * *

He heard a door close with a rather loud slam –– loud enough to bring him back to consciousness –– followed by furious whispers. For a moment, he wondered exactly where he was, but then he felt a body lying behind him, embracing him with one arm. Somebody's stomach lifted and fell against his back, and he just knew that it was Sebastian. After all, he had been in a similar position before.

"... Fell asleep," he heard Finn's voice say in the distance, and he tried to appear like he was sleeping in every sense of the word –– he didn't want to leave Sebastian's warm embrace just yet, and oh, the bed was so soft and comfortable and peaceful, outside of it was only trouble.

The sound of another door closing, bathroom or bedroom Kurt didn't care, told him that they had left him alone, and Kurt slowly relaxed. Before he could really think it over, he turned around and snuggled into Sebastian's chest, pulling him closer by his own arms and breathing in the warmth. He felt Sebastian's grip tighten around him, as the other boy moved his face into Kurt's neck, and for a moment he wondered if Sebastian was awake too. He didn't care too much though, as he turned sleepier and sleepier. With the hot breath going down his neck like a soothing breeze and the warmth of Sebastian's embrace, he was soon all out again.

* * *

It wasn't like he planned to wake up again. But consciousness broke through his clouded mind, like sun breaking through the clouds on a warm, warm day when all you wanted was shadow. No, it wasn't like he wanted to wake up. Like he had any reason to wake up either, not when he was so comfortable, and there was absolutely nothing to disturb his sleep. And yet, there he was, awaking, his eyes fluttering open and taking in his surroundings.

It was almost like deja-vu, the way he slowly opened his eyes to find a pair of green ones looking back at him, but this time he knew exactly who they belonged to and why they were there.

"No pushing me of the bed this time?" Sebastian asked softly, clearly thinking back to the same thing as Kurt.

"Nah, I think I've gotten used to waking up to you staring at me," he responded, and Sebastian only chuckled.

"Good to know."

It was so easy, this pillow talk, and if Kurt was perfectly honest with himself, he enjoyed this. Sebastian was there, not pulling away even though it was obvious they were, for the lack of a better word, _cuddling_ and with both of them awake enough to notice it. In fact, Sebastian was moving closer as he buried his face in Kurt's neck like before, and Kurt's hand automatically went up to tangle into Sebastian's hair.

"I've never done this before, you know," Sebastian mumbled, and had it not been for the fact that he was more or less directly under Kurt's ear, Kurt would surely have missed it.

"Cuddled?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"You've been missing out on one of the greatest joys of life, Smythe."

"Sort of figured that one out myself, thank you," he murmured against Kurt's skin, and Kurt opened his mouth to respond when he suddenly felt Sebastian's lips against his neck, gently teasing his skin. Whatever Kurt had been planing to say turned into a soft gasp, as his hand tightened in Sebastian's hair. It only caused Sebastian to suck harder, which was oh so welcome Kurt thought, as he stretched his neck, trying to grant better access. Letting his other hand travel across Sebastian's back –– unexplored land of muscles and skin that felt so delicious, and oh, Kurt wanted Sebastian's t-shirt out of the way so that he could enjoy it properly. Sebastian's lips moved from his neck to his jaw, placing soft, sleepy kisses in random patterns before he drew back, just before reaching the mouth, and looked at Kurt.

Sebastian had a look in his eyes that Kurt knew he'd seen somewhere before, but he didn't know where or what it really meant. It was such a lost look, yet calm, relaxed and tense all at once, and Kurt didn't know what to do with it, what to think of it. So he did the only thing that felt natural and leaned forward to press Sebastian's lips against his own.

Sebastian's breath hitched as their lips met, and Kurt felt his chest rising and falling against his own, as Sebastian breathed through the nose. He let himself fall into the kiss head first, everything but the way Sebastian's lips brushed against his was unimportant, forgotten. He loved how they moved together, how his hand found a way under Sebastian's shirt, how their legs tangled into a mess, and how the boy hovered over him and settled, his weight so nicely pressing Kurt down into the mattress.

Kurt let himself get lost in the moment because he felt nothing but a warm, tender feeling mixed up with the thrill of arousal running through him, all because of Sebastian, and he wanted to hold on to this. In some part of his mind, he guessed that it all was rather obvious that they would end up like this; it was the second time they shared a bed, even though it was unintentional; he had, even if he would always say otherwise to anyone who asked, felt a pull toward Sebastian all day and had hoped so much that he'd got to do this again. Got to feel Sebastian –– kiss him, taste him, hear him, see him –– and know that all of it was for him.

He felt Sebastian's hands run over him, sending shivers through his body as they explored him. He felt himself arch up to Sebastian's warmth and opened his mouth in a clear invitation; something that Sebastian responded with trusting his wet tongue into Kurt's mouth and making Kurt let out a groan. He could feel the pressure building up between his legs, as Sebastian's hands continued to roam over him, making him more and more turned on, and he wasn't really thinking straight when Sebastian's mouth left his, and the boy leaned their foreheads together, just their breaths mingling for a moment with their eyes closed.

"Kurt," Sebastian whispered to him, and he felt warmth wash over him that had nothing to do with the body on top of him.

"Mm," he hummed back, letting his hand slide over Sebastian's shoulder blades and nearly dragging the shirt all the way up in the process –– not that that would be a bad thing.

"If, if you don't want this to go any further," Sebastian said in the softest of voices, "then you'll have to say so now, or I'll kiss you."

He felt Sebastian's breath ghost over his face, waiting for his answer. The way Sebastian had been acting all day; that playful but still cocky, yet gentle manner of his that he hid from the world; the way Sebastian touched him like he was exciting and precious, kissed him like he was as attracted to Kurt as Kurt was to him; the fact that none of this could ever have been planed, wasn't a scheme and how Kurt felt like it was _special_ –– all of this worked in Sebastian's favour. And as he opened his eyes and saw such a genuine feeling of longing in Sebastian's eyes, he was certain of his decision.

"Kiss me," he breathed.

A smile –– one of those warm, breathtaking smiles –– flickered over Sebastian's face, and he brought a hand up to cup Kurt's cheek. Gently, he angled Kurt's head, hovering over him for a moment, and they just _looked_ at each other, before Sebastian oh so slowly leaned down and pressed his lips against Kurt's. It was so soft and tender, so different from the hot, wet kisses with far too much tongue that just made Kurt want to grind them together. At the same time, this kiss wasn't any less thrilling, as Kurt sucked on Sebastian's bottom lip, and it wasn't any less intense in the way Sebastian's hand cupped his arse or the way Kurt pulled Sebastian closer to him by his legs –– but it was so full of emotion that couldn't be put into words and so intimate that it was almost intoxicating. How was he supposed to not fall for this boy who gave him such looks and who kissed him with such passion?

"Off," Sebastian muttered against Kurt's lips, tugging his shirt, and Kurt couldn't help but to feel a little giddy at the close to adorable display of want in Sebastian.

"You first," Kurt responded, pulling back enough to pull Sebastian's shirt over his head; Sebastian helpfully moving his arms so that it didn't get stuck somewhere, and they ended up looking ridiculous, although Kurt found this rather hilarious.

His amused thoughts were completely washed away as the shirt came off, and Kurt saw the somewhat tan, exposed skin, as Sebastian hovered over him, a smug look on his face.

"And now you," he whispered in a low voice, his hands suddenly slipping under Kurt's shirt, dragging over his body and pulling the t-shirt up, up over his head. All Kurt could think of was just how good it felt to have Sebastian's hands on him and just how much his hair would be messed up by that shirt going over his head, but oh, never mind, he had been asleep –– his hair was a lost cause anyway.

"God, just look at you," Sebastian mumbled perhaps more to himself, his eyes roaming over Kurt, and it was close to mortifying how exposed Kurt felt, a blush starting to form on his face and creep down his body. Sebastian saw it too, he just knew he did, but the other boy leaned down and started to place chase kisses over Kurt's collarbone, so _perhaps_ he would be merciful enough to pretend that Kurt wasn't blushing like hell.

Sebastian's hands started to trail down his body, and Kurt's breath hitched, as he felt one slip into his pants and grab his arse but _fuck_, that sent a nice thrill through him, and Kurt pulled Sebastian closer in all the ways he could, trying to transmit the word _'continue'_ without voicing it out loud. And Sebastian understood, slowly tugging of his pants and underwear in one go, his mouth leaving Kurt's skin and Kurt's legs unlocking around him so that they both could make sure that the unnecessary clothing got out of the way.

For a moment, Sebastian just stayed where he was crouching more or less in between Kurt's legs, looking into Kurt's eyes –– the eyes that steadily met his gaze. Slowly, almost like he was scared that Kurt would run away, he leaned forward, positioning himself on his hands and knees over Kurt, never looking away from Kurt's eyes, something that looked surprisingly like disbelief in his eyes.

Feeling bold and maybe frustrated, Kurt raised his hand, brushing it over Sebastian's face, up to his hairline and through the ruffled hair that was partly falling into the boy's eyes. God, Sebastian was really handsome, what with his piercing green eyes, almost aglow by the street-light coming in through the window, his hair messy and soft under Kurt's fingers, and that mouth, so fucking talented at making Kurt shiver with arousal from only one single kiss. He trailed his hand Sebastian's neck, over his shoulder, down across his chest before staying by Sebastian's waist, just above the trousers lining.

"Why are you still wearing clothes?" Kurt asked, making a point of pushing his index finger into the trousers, caressing the skin underneath.

Sebastian exhaled, a shudder running through him as Kurt moved his hand, and a soft smile dawning on his face.

"Well," he said, "I was just gonna pull out these first." And with that, Sebastian dug a hand into one of his pockets, before pulling up a condom and a mini-package with lube, just enough for one time. Kurt eyes widened, probably comically so as he saw it, and he looked back at Sebastian's fond smile with a mostly astonished look of his own.

"Did you walk around with that all day?" he couldn't help asking.

Sebastian just shrugged and smiled, but that was enough of an answer to tell Kurt that _yes, he did_. And for some strange reason, Kurt found himself getting more turned on by the very thought. Without really thinking, he pulled Sebastian down with his free hand, pressing their lips together. Sebastian's response was immediate, and he heard the rustle of the sheets, as Sebastian bucked down, their naked chests finally touching, and the contact making them both moan into each others mouths.

Fanatically, both Kurt and Sebastian worked to get Sebastian's last pieces of clothing _off_, the button being Kurt's biggest enemy. But soon that layer of fabric was also gone, and it was only that oh God _amazing_ skin to skin contact, and Kurt just wanted _more._

Sebastian more or less attacked his neck, sucking harshly on the already fading marks, and Kurt arched up into him, moaning loudly, almost drowning in the sound, smell and pure _feeling_ of the boy. Goodness, sex had never been like this, so intense and hot but tender all at once; it was so much and yet - not enough.

"Sebastian," he moaned, tangling his hand in the boy's hair, trying but failing to get him to stay by his neck. "I, I need..." he trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.

"What do need, Kurt? Just tell me, and I'll do it," he said, looking at Kurt, his eyes dark with arousal.

Kurt hesitated, mouth slightly agape. He really didn't know how to do this; hell, he hardly knew what he exactly wanted, much less how to _say it out loud_. But fuck it all, "I need you to fuck me," he blurred out, feeling his stomach drop at his own crude words.

Sebastian's eyes widened at the words, as he stared at Kurt who became _very_ conscious of himself, breaking eye contact and started to blush again.

"Hell, Kurt," Sebastian murmured. "You have no idea how fucking hot you look when you blush."

Kurt couldn't help but to give Sebastian a disbelieving look because _really_, looking cute, adorable or maybe even beautiful while blushing, sure, but _hot?_ Never.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Sebastian asked, and Kurt bit his lip, not trusting his voice right now. He didn't really notice how Sebastian reached for the lube that he had at the ready, or how the hell he managed to open it with only one hand. In the end, it didn't matter all that much because Sebastian kept looking at him the whole time, and for some reason he found himself unable to look away. But then a warm hand returned to his arse, sliding in between his cheeks he felt hot all over, and God he needed something inside of him _now_.

"Fine, no need to be some demanding," Sebastian chuckled, and Kurt felt mortified: did he really just say that out loud?!

Gently, Sebastian pressed his index finger to Kurt's hole, slowly pushing it inside, and Kurt couldn't suppress a moan, as he threw his head back, closing his eyes and just giving in to the sheer _feeling_. Damn, it felt better than yesterday; he was far more loose to begin with, and _fuck_, Sebastian was pulling out and pushing back in a different angle, and Kurt just _knew _what he was looking for.

"More, Sebastian," Kurt said in a low voice, groaning when Sebastian followed his wishes.

"You got to be quieter, Kurt," Sebastian said softly and then started to suck on his neck again, like he just wanted Kurt to do the opposite. But Kurt couldn't find it in himself to push Sebastian away, not when he sharp pain of his teeth biting down into Kurt's skin and the tug of his fingers were oh so _delicious_.

"Well you, _ah_, you're making it awfully difficult," Kurt said, even though his eyes were still closed, he could practically _feel_ Sebastian smirk against his neck.

Without warning, Sebastian added a third finger, and Kurt arched up into the other boy, biting his lip to keep him from letting out an ecstatic cry that was rumbling inside of him.

"Fuck," Sebastian mumbled against his skin, "you're so fucking responsive. Do you have any idea how hot that is?"

In that moment, maybe unconsciously so, Sebastian brushed against _that _spot, and Kurt moaned, his hands tightening in Sebastian's hair and fingers digging into his shoulder.

"Found it?" Sebastian asked amusedly, but Kurt didn't even _care_ because that felt _so fucking good,_ and he just nodded, savouring the feeling.

He looked up the ceiling, seeing how it was illuminated by the yellow glow of a street light, and he thought he had most definitely _not_ imagined that he would stare up the ceiling in such a compromising position like the one he was in now. Hell, he had never imagined that he would _ever_ have sex in this apartment, let alone in the living room. Yet, here he was, and goodness, if he wasn't pleased with the way things had turned out. With Sebastian brushing his prostate with every thrust and the way he was licking the crock of Kurt's neck, Kurt didn't have much to complain about, but damn, he wanted _more_.

Turning his head and tugging in Sebastian's hair, he brought the other boy's ear close to his, making a point of moaning softly right into it every time Sebastian did something wicked with his fingers.

"_Sebastian_," he moaned, pleased by how Sebastian shuddered at the sound of his own name. "I want your cock inside of me _now_."

The reaction came instantly, as Sebastian pulled his fingers out, one hand searching for condom and lube aimlessly while propping himself up on the other arm, like he didn't dare to be too close to Kurt. It was a rather amusing sight, to see the anxious look on Sebastian's face, mixed up with lust and arousal which was almost clear on his face. It made Kurt smile, and after Sebastian's hand closed around what he was looking for, and he was rolling on a condom on his cock, Kurt pulled him down, making him lose his balance and pushing the breath out of Kurt, but it didn't matter, as Kurt captured his lips in a chaste kiss, before pulling back and just raising an eyebrow at Sebastian's baffled expression. Soon, a fond smile replaced the anxiety in Sebastian, and Kurt smiled back warmly, as Sebastian positioned himself between Kurt's legs.

"It would be a lot nicer, you know," Kurt said. "If we do it like this." He moved his legs, raising them up to rest on either of Sebastian's shoulders.

"Fuck," Sebastian breathed before leaning forward and coating his cock with the last lube, then pushing it inside, slowly like he wanted to commit it all to memory.

Kurt closed his eyes, a soft moan escaping his lips, and he felt his own legs against his chest and Sebastian's breath ghosting over him.

"God, Kurt, so fucking good," Sebastian mumbled mindlessly, and Kurt looked at him only to find the other boy giving him an intense look of his own.

"Kiss me, Sebastian," he whispered and immediately felt Sebastian's lips against his own. He opened his mouth, letting Sebastian lick into him, his arms locking around the green-eyed boy's neck. Pulling him closer, Sebastian shifted and pushed his cock a little further into Kurt's body, making his breath hitch, and he pulled away from Sebastian's mouth –– he needed to _breathe._

"Please move," Kurt whispered. "You feel so good inside of me."

Sebastian kissed Kurt quickly and then pulled back, gently but fast, and then pushed inside again, his hands on Kurt's waist as he started to fuck him properly.

It was like they were under a spell, just the two of them, and once they started started to fuck then there was no going back –– the intensity just became greater and greater by each time Sebastian trusted and Kurt moaned as softly as he could.

He tried to keep quiet, he really did, but even if Sebastian thrusting his cock inside of him wasn't _enough_, he suddenly felt a hand on his own, slowly stroking it. Out of pure instinct, he grabbed Sebastian's face between both his hands and pulled it down before moaning into the boy's mouth since _fuck_, he would _not _be able to keep quiet it if was going to go on like _this_. The action made Sebastian moan into Kurt's mouth himself, and great goodness if that wasn't _hot_.

The hand on Kurt's cock picked up in speed, moving together with each of Sebastian's thrusts, and it was pushing Kurt closer and closer to the edge.

"If I," Sebastian said in between moan-swallowing kisses, "kiss you, _ha_, can you come for me, Kurt?"

And just like that, Kurt came, slamming his lips against Sebastian's once more and letting the other swallow his cry, as Sebastian continued to thrust into him.

"Sebastian," Kurt said in a hoarse whisper. "Come for me."

With a soft cry of his own, Sebastian came, a shiver running through him as Kurt pulled him close, almost entangling their bodies.

He didn't really know how long they stayed like that, holding each other as close as possible in the afterglow, but far too soon, Sebastian started to pull out, and Kurt shifted, making it easier for Sebastian to move. Kurt closed his eyes and waited for something –– anything really, like regret, uselessness, devastation or _something_ to wash over him as a consequence of what he just had done. But instead, the only thing he noticed was the way Sebastian curled down next to him, and he couldn't help looking at the other boy in attempt to find the answer within him.

Sebastian wore that look again –– that one that Kurt had seen before and actually knew pretty well, but he couldn't put his finger on what it _meant_.

"So," Sebastian said slowly. "We had sex again."

"Yeah," Kurt breathed, feeling how sleep was starting to demand his presence once more.

"And you're not running away," Sebastian stated, sounding tired as well.

"No," Kurt agreed.

"And I don't know about you, but I'm too goddamn tired, and I _really_ don't feel like getting up and cleaning up."

"Your sheets, your choice," Kurt said with a chuckle. "But I can definitely relate."

"So, you won't get up and leave now?" Sebastian asked, and he looked so vulnerable and so _open_.

"Unless you ask me to," Kurt tried to sound ensuring.

"I won't."

"Then I guess," Kurt said, turning away to get his phone which was resting on the coffee table, "as long as we get up before Finn and Rachel, I'll spend the night with you." He sat the alarm early, so Kurt would have time to get up and take a shower and then make Sebastian take one of his own before getting Finn and Rachel's arses out of bed.

"The night is almost over, babe," Sebastian said teasingly, and Kurt tried to push away the thrill that run through him at being called 'babe'.

"Shut it," he said instead and then pushed himself into Sebastian's embrace. "And good night."

"Good night, Kurt," Sebastian whispered softly and then kissed Kurt's shoulder gently before burying his face in the crook of Kurt's neck. The kiss was totally uncalled for, and Kurt didn't know just what to think of it, but the simple action felt far more intimate than Sebastian's cock in his arse had ever done.

It was all so confusing, and Kurt really needed to sort this riddle out, but lying in Sebastian's embrace and listening to other boy's breathing while falling asleep was neither the time nor place.


	20. Chapter 19

Kurt had a problem. A _huge_ problem, staring right at him from his neck.

He really hadn't noticed or given it a second thought last night but _fuck_, Sebastian had given him a enormous hickey that no scarf could cover, and it so wasn't season for turtle necks, so that wasn't even an option.

Kurt stared at his neck in the mirror, standing more or less naked in the bathroom after his shower, and he thought about just _what_ he should do with it. He couldn't just walk around with that on his neck, for Rachel and Finn would see it; moreover, his _dad_ would see it when they reached Ottawa in the evening. With a groan of frustration, Kurt went through the medicine cabinet and all the products he had brought with him before _finally_ finding foundation and powder at the bottom of the last freaking bag he searched. Of course.

Thankfully for him, he still got the fine technique in his fingers, and with great care he covered the visible parts of his skin, leaving the part that went across his shoulder and collarbone; he would just have to wear a shirt so that he showed as little skin around the area as possible.

Sneaking out of the bathroom into his bedroom wasn't that much of a mission either. Sebastian was lying dead on the sofa even after Kurt's attempt to wake up when the alarm went off (seriously, how that guy managed Dalton was a freaking mystery), and Finn and Rachel were still sleeping.

He quickly made himself presentable: a grey shirt with sleeves that reached just below the elbows, a tie, a comfortable but very fashionable cardigan, deep-blue trousers (not jeans thankyouverymuch), and a pair of comfortable shoes. After fixing his hair as well, Kurt gave himself a appreciative once-over to conclude that _yes_, he was stunning as usual.

He quickly made his way to Sebastian; the meerkat needed to get up and get his arse into the shower before it was time to wake the others.

"Sebastian," he said harshly because he knew by now that being merciful and getting Sebastian up just didn't go together. "Wake up."

"L'est quelle heure?" Sebastian slurred, burying himself deeper into the pillow.

"Time to get up," Kurt said and then snatched away Sebastian's duvet which caused Sebastian to cry out in agony and glare at Kurt.

"How the hell are you even dressed?!" he demanded, looking very much like an upset child and really, it was rather adorable.

"Because I get up when I should, and be grateful, I let you sleep a little longer while I took a shower; now you're gonna take one."

"Why would I have to take a shower?" he asked critically.

"Because not only do you look and smell like sex, you're also covered in my come, Sebastian," Kurt informed him all matter of fact-y, and Sebastian suddenly looked a little more awake where he was lying, stark naked actually, on the sofa (Kurt tried not to think about that naked part and pointedly kept his eyes on Sebastian's face).

Sebastian still looked like he was going to argue with Kurt, most likely just for argument's sake, so Kurt did the first thing that occurred to him, which was taking Sebastian's face between his hands and kissing him.

It was such a bold move, such an _uncharacteristic_ move from Kurt but _hell_, it felt so freaking great to just pull Sebastian forward and thrust his tongue into his mouth before the boy even knew what was coming. Sebastian groaned and pushed himself up to meet Kurt's mouth, but Kurt pulled away, leaving him trailing after his lips.

"Nope, I've decided. I'll only kiss boys who are awake and showered from now on," Kurt declared and then rose from where he sat on the edge of the sofa. "So you may want to get to it," he said, looking back with Sebastian who almost looked pained to have to get up, but he did it anyway.

Just as Sebastian passed Kurt, he took his face in between his hands and placed a quick kiss of his own and then pulled away before Kurt even realised what was happening.

"Bonjour, Princesse," Sebastian said quietly, his face only a few inches away from Kurt's, and just when Kurt felt like he was about to pull Sebastian back for a thorough make-out session, the bastard pulled away and walked toward the bathroom, swaying his bare hips teasingly and not looking back. _Fucker_.

Kurt went inside Rachel's room and made the two of them wake up, interrogated them both if they had actually packed before going out on a date (they _had_, Rachel assured him). Rachel then carried on with a titanic task of getting Finn out of bed while Kurt left to make some breakfast that they could eat in the car and coffee to fuel himself (and Sebastian).

"I don't get why we have to be up this early, I mean it's still dark outside," Finn muttered as he stumbled into the kitchen after a while, Rachel taking the lead before him.

"You don't actually have to fully wake up, Finn. You can sleep again once we get into the car," Kurt assured and made sandwiches, taking whatever they had left in the fridge and throwing away all the things that were useless. No one was going to get back here before Kurt and Rachel were actually _moving_ to New York, so he would _not_ have anything rotting in his fridge while he was away.

"Where's Sebastian?" Rachel asked, nodding toward the empty sofa.

"Taking a shower, he needed to wake up," Kurt told her, and speaking of the devil, Sebastian came out of the bathroom just then, thankfully clothed. He went straight to the coffee machine, and Rachel glared at him the entire time while Kurt just watched him fondly.

"That was fast," Kurt said.

"Yes, well, someone threw me in there against my free will," Sebastian muttered while pouring himself a cup.

"Must be hard for you," Kurt gave Sebastian one final glance before returning to the sandwiches, asking Rachel to sort out the fridge as he did so and just let Finn stay where he was sitting half dead by the table; he was utterly useless at this hour, and everyone knew it.

Suddenly, a cup of coffee was placed in front of him, and Kurt looked up at Sebastian in surprise, only to find him not looking at him.

"Thanks," he said softly, reaching for it and taking a sip; it was perfect.

"De rien," Sebastian muttered and then walked away, starting to pack his things by the sofa (and putting the sheets in a plastic bag Kurt noted). Rachel gave him a raised eyebrow in question because _of course_ she noticed the exchange, but Kurt just shrugged. He didn't feel like telling Rachel that he slept with Sebastian _twice_ in the last 48 hours and may or may not be falling for his sweet arse that was currently bending over, picking something up from the floor. Nope, that was a conversation for later.

* * *

"_L'est quelle heure?" –– "What time is it?"_

"_Bonjour, Princesse," –– literally means "Hello, Princess," because the French are too hipster to say "good morning" I'm told XD_

"_De rien," –– "You're welcome,"_


	21. Chapter 20

"Why am I sitting behind _him_?!" Rachel demanded to know just as Sebastian pulled out on the road that would take them away from New York. She did so very loudly, and all the three boys in the car more or less groaned.

"Because you're the shortest and, therefore, demand less space for your legs, so naturally you should sit behind the driver seat since the one driving should always be in perfect position since he or she is _driving_. And Sebastian's driving because it's his car, and I'll take over once he needs a break, okay?" Kurt explained as patiently as he could manage; it was still some time around 7 AM, and no one, except Rachel, was really _that_ awake.

Rachel snorted disapprovingly, and Kurt looked back at her only to find her pouting with her arms crossed.

"It's a seven-hour road trip, Rachel, _try_ to be cooperative, will you?"

She sighed deeply before looking back at him, nodding slightly.

"Thank you. Now do you want to borrow a magazine or sleep?" he asked.

"You only brought fashion magazines with you, didn't you?"

"Of course, don't you know me at all? And besides, perhaps you'll actually learn something from them," he said fondly and chuckled at the way she was playfully sticking her tongue out at him.

"Wish me good morning, God knows Finn doesn't need it," she said as she tried to make herself comfortable and damn, she was right, his brother was already asleep.

"Goodness," Kurt mumbled. "Good morning, Rachel." He turned back to Sebastian who had his eyes on the road, looking possibly as blank as one could probably get.

"Dans quelques minutes elle sera en train de dormir, tu sais," Kurt said, meeting Sebastian's eyes when they looked over for a second before turning back to the road.

"Et pour quelle raison j'aurai envie de savoir ça?" Sebastian asked in a tone that was probably meant to sound nonchalant, but Kurt didn't think for a moment that that was all there was to it.

"Parce que comme ça tu pourras écouter doucement ta musique de supermarché et gracieusement éviter de réveiller tout le monde."

It was sort of thrilling, how he and Sebastian could still _talk_ in the car, perhaps not as freely as before, but still talk without other people understanding because no one else could speak French. Like they still shared something special between them; secrets that no one else knew, and it was all thrilling in a way that Kurt had ever experienced before. Sebastian was still more closed than before, but that was expected since they had two people behind them who, if they wanted, could listen and see everything Kurt and Sebastian did and said –– hell, _Kurt_ didn't like the thought, what must Sebastian be feeling?

Just as they passed the sign that said that they had left New York City behind them, Kurt turned around to find Rachel asleep.

"They're both sleeping now," he informed Sebastian who seemed to hesitate for a moment, before turning on the radio.

* * *

It was only (although 'only' and 'only' could most definitely be discussed) two hours after departure that they stopped to take a break and eat breakfast; it was when Finn's hunger outgrew his need for sleep. They had found a little road stop outside, one of those that only consisted of a couple of benches and tables, with a public toilet and a rather nice scenery in this case, including a green little forest to the left of the benches and parking lot. It was quite dead when they got there, and it wasn't too much of a surprise really, but Kurt suspected that those coach trips that travelled this highway were likely to take one of their quick stops here; it was one of the nicer resting places Kurt had seen.

"So, Sebastian," Rachel started as they settled down a table, and Kurt just _knew_ that this one wasn't going to end well. "Where did you grow up?"

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her, clearly baffled by her sudden interest in _him_. "Here and there," he answered vaguely.

"Because I couldn't help noticing that you and Kurt spoke French just before I fell asleep," Rachel pushed, Kurt listening to the conversation closely and Finn stuffing his face with sandwich.

"My mum's French," Sebastian said, just as monotone as before. His walls were up again, shielding himself from Rachel, and while Kurt didn't like it, he couldn't blame Sebastian; he had been like that around Rachel once upon a time too.

"Really?!" Rachel exclaimed melodramatically. "So, you grew up in France?"

"Partly," Sebastian said, crossing his arms defensively.

"Only partly?"

"Does it sound like I have an accent to you?" Sebastian deadpanned, obviously tired of Rachel already.

"No, but how was I supposed to know that you didn't just take an intense course to get rid of it?" Rachel pointed out with a shrug before taking a bite of her specially made vegan-sandwich original by Kurt E. Hummel.

"Parce que tu crois vraiment que j'apprendrai _intentionnellement_ l'américain pour avoir cet accent?" Sebastian muttered underneath his breath, and Kurt raised an eyebrow at the dig but said nothing.

"But you started at Dalton last year, am I right?" Rachel went on, and Sebastian simply nodded in confirmation. "So before that you lived in France?"

"Paris," Sebastian snapped, clenching his jaw and glaring at Rachel.

Kurt could hear the warning bells ringing loudly around them; Sebastian's whole composure screamed _'fuck off'_ and _'don't go there,'_ and Kurt _knew_ that Sebastian's past in Paris together and his future in USA were both touchy subjects, and while _he_ could maybe scratch on the surface, Kurt didn't know what would happen if Rachel continued with this line of interrogation.

"Oh, you must miss it, I mean compared to Ohio. How long will you live here?"

"Well, everything continues in its smooth, gentle development," Sebastian started, a low burning fire slowly moving to the surface behind his mask, "and I mean why wouldn't it? God knows my dad is brilliant at what he does, and _Dieu merci_ for that –– how else could I ever live the life I lead –– but most likely, I'd say for fucking _ever_." With that, Sebastian rose from his seat and stormed away.

Kurt shot Rachel an angry bitch-glare, and she opened her mouth, most likely to shift the blame, but he just got up and went after Sebastian before she got a chance.

Sebastian, damn his long legs, was far into the little forest when Kurt caught up with him, finding the boy leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and glaring blankly ahead. Before Kurt could even come up with something to say, Sebastian snapped.

"Why did you follow me?" he demanded, still keeping his eyes pointedly ahead.

Kurt hadn't really expected that, up till now Sebastian had always gone quiet when he was mad, but this time was clearly an exception.

"Because I mean, _why_ would you follow me into the fucking woods, huh, Kurt?"

"Because you're clearly angry about something," Kurt tried gently, as he took small steps before he so he could look Sebastian in the eyes when the boy decided to actually look at him.

"So?!" Sebastian exclaimed, finally glaring at _him_ and not some random tree.

"So –– why? I get that Rachel can be rude or pushy from time to time, but she wasn't outright insulting you so –– " Kurt started, but Sebastian cut him off.

"For fuck's sake, Hummel, don't you get it?! I don't _want_ to be here, in this forest, in this country, on this fucking _continent_. I want to be back in Paris, but instead I've been forced to live in fucking _Ohio_ and watch through a goddamn screen how I'm forgotten in country that is so fucking nuts and contradicting and let's not _mention_ homophobic, and I _don't want_ this life!" Sebastian was close to breathless at the end of his little speech; he had unlocked his arms, eyes wild with anger, restlessness and a desperation for _something_, and Kurt couldn't stop himself from getting riled up.

"But you'll just have to make the best out of the situation, and you can probably go to college in France if you want to –– "

"That's not the same freaking thing, Kurt, and you know it!" Sebastian shouted.

"So what? You're just gonna lie around and wait for the life to happen then?"

"Don't mind if I fucking do! Why should I care for something that I _don't want_, and it's not fucking fair!"

"Well, life isn't _fair_, Sebastian," he snapped back. "It doesn't stop just because you're sad or angry or disappointed, take it from me,_ I know_. Life is like a freaking road, Sebastian, and it doesn't let you stop for too long to take a break before you have to get a move on, or else it'll go right past you and leave you behind. You can only continue and keep on going."

"But how the fuck should I do that, Kurt?! Please tell me that because I'm _dying _to know!"

"You –– " Kurt stopped himself, taking a deep breath through nose and looking away for a second, trying to sort his thoughts out before looking back at him. "You know what? You're a fucktard, Sebastian. A first class fucktard. Because you're so damn stubborn and just plain _stupid _that you don't get that life is what you make of it!"

"And how the hell am I supposed to _make up_ a road out of fucking nothing, Kurt?!"

"Get into your fucking head that there's always a way, Sebastian! You just need to get up your lazy arse and _walk_."

"Oh, but I can walk _anywhere_ right here and right now if I want to, smartarse, but I don't, so I won't." Sebastian sneered, his awful expression of cruelty reminding Kurt of the Sebastian Smythe that he knew before: the egocentric, childish, spoiled one who always wore such a rude smirk on his face. He was back.

"There's always a road that leads somewhere," Kurt said, the lack of shouting in his voice speaking louder than any scream ever could. "You take your pick."

With that, Kurt walked away, not interested in the defensive rudeness that Sebastian was giving him, and he knew that his words wouldn't mean anything to him. Inside, he felt like crying, like he had lost someone important all over again, like he had with both his mother, Mercedes and Blaine, and that lump in his throat just kept getting bigger and bigger with every step he took. The last couple of days and even this morning when Sebastian placing a coffee cup in front of him suddenly seemed so far away.

So Kurt focused on the anger that was running through him, the disappointment and grudge –– anything but sadness!

With determined steps, he walked up to Finn and Rachel who both saw him coming, their faces paling at the sight of his anger.

"All done?" he asked, and they both nodded like they didn't dare to do otherwise. "Good. Pack up and get doing," he demanded, putting the few sandwiches that were left back into the plastic containers that he had brought them in before shoving them all back into a bag and stalking to the car, Rachel and Finn trailing behind him.

Thankfully, Sebastian hadn't locked the car, so Kurt opened it and gestured for Rachel to get inside.

"I'll sit in the back with Rachel for now," Kurt said simply, looking at Finn like he _dared him_ to argue. Finn, of course, didn't, but he did look like he had something to say, or ask rather, and Kurt could already figure what it was, but he wasn't up for any questions so he just jumped inside the car, avoiding it all.

Sebastian chose this time to come out from hiding and went straight for the driver's seat throwing a quick look back. His jaw clenched when he saw Kurt sitting there.

_Like he had any right to be upset_, Kurt thought angrily. Sebastian was just the same as ever, and of course he wouldn't change, wouldn't open up, and especially not to _Kurt_.

But then why did his stomach twist in such an unpleasant way when he saw his brother taking the seat in front of him, _his seat,_ his mind supplied, but _no_, that seat wasn't his any more than Sebastian himself was.

It didn't matter that he was in a small car with three other people. Kurt still felt alone.

* * *

_"Dans quelques minutes elle sera en train de dormir, tu sais." –– "She'll be asleep in a couple of minutes you know."_

_"Et pour quelle raison j'aurai envie de savoir ça?" –– "And why would I want to know that?"_

_"Parce que comme ça tu pourras écouter doucement ta musique de supermarché et gracieusement éviter de réveiller tout le monde." –– "So you can put on that wrecked music of yours, at a low volume so you don't wake anyone of them up I might add."_

"_Parce que tu crois vraiment que j'apprendrai _intentionnellement_ l'américain pour avoir cet accent?"_ –– _"Why would I want to get an American accent _willingly_?"_

"_Dieu merci" –– "thank God"_

"_Fucktard" –– just because I feel the need to emphasize the meaning of this word; here's a definition taken from Urban Dictionary; "A person of unbelieveable, inexcusable and indescribable stupidity (stupidity being defined as "knowing how and doing it wrong anyway"). NOT A CONTRACTION FOR "FUCKING RETARD"! True Fucktards are 100% responsible for their situation and provide vast entertainment as they are usually blissfully unaware of their own Fucktardery. Most politicians for example."_


	22. Chapter 21

Three hours and _really_ awkward (approximately) 220 miles later, and both Kurt and Sebastian had yet to breathe a word to anyone, let alone to each other.

Kurt couldn't see him so well from behind, but he noticed Sebastian's hands were tight around the steering wheel, just like in the beginning of their trip, and his shoulders were tense –– not that Kurt really cared or anything.

Rachel had on numerous occasions tried to start a conversation, but the only response she got was from her boyfriend who answered her out of pure loyalty. But when Finn voiced that he needed lunch soon or else he might just die of starvation, Sebastian quickly noticed a restaurant coming up at the next exit and suggested it, surprising everyone. With a quick glance at Kurt for confirmation (he nodded), Rachel agreed, and soon they found themselves inside the roadside restaurant. It was one of those places that looked like a fancy school cafeteria where you just asked for a dish and then had it shovelled up on a plate and given to you right away.

After ordering and paying for his food –– and with Rachel complaining beside him rather loudly at the lack of vegan alternatives, Kurt found a rectangular table for them to sit at, Rachel by his side and Finn opposite him, leaving Sebastian as far away from him as possible.

If the trip in the car to this point had been unpleasant, it was _nothing_ compared to the atmosphere around them as soon as they all sat down. Sebastian would openly glare at Kurt; not that he hadn't tried doing that in the car, but that was a rather hard thing to pull off if you were driving and your target was seated _behind_ you; and Kurt would ignore it and brush Rachel off every time she attempted to talk to him and just stare Finn down every time _he_ tried.

Soon, Rachel had apparently had enough of this situation which she didn't fully understand and most certainly couldn't handle.

"Kurt," she said sternly. "Go to the bathroom with me?" Much to her credit, it did really sound like a question and a demand all at once.

"No thank you," he answered simply, picking in his salad, not really hungry.

"I _insist_."

"I _refuse_," he said in a likewise tone.

He glared at her, and she glared back, and Kurt was positive that Finn and Sebastian were watching it all like a tennis match, back and forth, back and forth. He could see the machinery inside Rachel's head working in top gear, trying to find something that would make him do as she wished. Then a look of realisation crossed her face, and he knew that whatever was coming, he was most likely to agree with it. _This would be good_.

"If you come with me," she said in a low, cautious voice. "I'll let you take whichever piece of clothing you want and burn it."

Oh, that was good, but now that he had her bargaining with her wardrobe he was _not_ going to settle for small potatoes.

"Make it five garments," he said.

"No way, two."

"Four."

"Three."

"Deal. And I got two witnesses." He pointed at Finn and Sebastian without actually looking at them before he got up and followed Rachel to the restrooms.

"So, are you gonna tell me what is going on?" Rachel said as soon as the door closed to the ladies' room.

"I thought you were going to the bathroom?" Kurt asked innocently, and Rachel just groaned at him.

"Just stop it, Kurt. I can tell that you're obviously bothered by whatever is going on, but I can't help you if you don't _tell me_ at least something!"

Kurt groaned, leaning against the sinks and running his hands over his face. He didn't know what to do either. For some part, it would be really nice to be able to _talk_ about all that was going on and all that was Sebastian and to just voice his concerns and thoughts and hypothesis and shit and just have a wall somewhere that he could just throw balls at and get some response. And Rachel. She was supposed to be his _best friend_, and the holy witches of _Wicked_ knew that he wasn't going to talk about Sebastian and sex (not apart and let alone _together_) with either Puck or Finn or Sam –– then he would rather dye his hair purple. So that left Rachel, and what a piece of art she was.

"Did something happen between you and Sebastian?" she asked carefully, and Kurt couldn't help but to find it funny.

"That's like the understatement of the year," he said, taking a deep breath and then finally looking back at his friend.

"So, I wasn't really imagining stuff when I saw you two this morning, and he like _gave you coffee_ and you like _fell asleep together_ in front of the TV last night, right?"

"No," Kurt confirmed.

"What happened between you two?"

"Well, what do you think happened, Rachel?" Kurt snapped. "I sat in a car with him for two days straight. I had to share a _bed_ with him when the car broke down in DuBois. I got chased through freaking _IKEA_ with him. I spent a day in New York with him where he dragged me to M'n'M's World of all places. _What do you think happened_?"

For a moment, she gaped at him in a way that remarkably enough reminded him of a goldfish; he had always thought of it was a saying, but apparently it really was based on _something_ if Rachel's face was anything to go by.

"Did –– did you _sleep_ with him?" she asked like she couldn't believe her own words, and Kurt couldn't hold back a blush even though it was only Rachel, so to spare them both he just nodded. "Oh my _God_!" she exclaimed, her hands covering her mouth, as she looked at him with wide eyes. "But, but wha–––– _when_ did you do _that_?! In DuBois?"

"No we just like shared a bed, and then I woke up in the morning, and he was staring at me, and I didn't really think straight, so I just sort of cried out and pushed him off the bed," Kurt blurred, gesticulating with his hands. "And he wasn't so happy about the whole 'pushing off the bed' thing and was like really grumpy all morning."

A giggle escaped his friend, and Kurt raised an eyebrow at her. "No, no, it's just that a grumpy Sebastian Smythe isn't really one of the things I thought I'd ever hear you talk about."

"Well yeah," Kurt mumbled, the floor seeming very interesting all of the sudden.

"But so what?" Rachel continued. "You had –– had sex and...?"

"It's not like we just fucked and then continued to hate each other, Rachel," he snapped at her, feeling rather uncomfortable about the subject, and by the way Rachel's eyes were flickering across everything inside the bathroom and how she had an arm around herself he could tell that she was, too.

"So, what happened?" she asked faintly.

Kurt sighed and looked up the ceiling, steeling himself. "We talked quite a lot the second day, you know, not about, well, _that_ kind of stuff only, but other things too. But then the subject of sex and sexiness came up, and I was driving the car, and he just kept getting on my nerves, making dig after dig. At some point, something just snapped inside of me, and I took the first exit I could find and just parked the car behind some trees and kissed him to prove something and from there it just _escalated_," he said in one go. He didn't really dare to meet Rachel's eyes, but he kept on talking, slower this time and maybe a little more to himself than to her. "There wasn't some great fuzz about it, and we didn't really talk about it afterward, and things just went on. We got to New York, and you know all about the first night, I mean you were there. And then on the morning I just dragged him out, and I don't really know why I did it, but it felt _right_, and I thought that I wasn't going to end up having sex with him again because the only reasons he would sleep with me would either be because I was a conquest which I clearly wasn't or because he wanted that whole 'no strings attached,' and I wasn't and _aren't_ interested in something like that. But then we got back, and you weren't there, and he made us watch _Mamma Mia_, and I fell asleep on the sofa only to wake up with him staring at me again, and then it just _happened_. Again."

"So you slept with him _twice_?" Rachel asked, and Kurt finally looked at her gobsmacked face.

"Yeah," he said.

"Oh my God," she said, running her hands through her hair and pacing a little back and forth like she didn't know what to do. "And on our sofa too, oh God I'm never gonna be able to look at that one again without thinking about how you had _sex_ on it, oh God," she ranted, and Kurt let her, feeling far more at ease now that it had all been said and Rachel wasn't like, _shouting_ at him and accusing him of mischief or something.

Suddenly, she stopped mid-step and turned to him, giving him an almost crazy look. "How was it? The sex I mean?"

"_Really_, Rachel? I have to go into detail with you _now_?!"

"No, no, I mean like, was it just like _physical _attraction," wow, you could see on her face how much it pained her to say these things, Kurt noted, "and, God, I don't know, _lust_. Or was it like intimate and sweet, and did it like make you just forget about everything else, and was it just like you and Sebastian were _sharing_ something together?"

"Er," Kurt hesitated, trying to apply Rachel's words to the memories. "If I'm gonna describe it with _your words_, then I guess the first time was really just _'lust' _and_ 'physical'_," and okay, woah, he realised why Rachel had such a hard time talking about this, it was _mortifying_. "But the second time _was_ really intimate, and I don't know, it was still hot you know, but it was different from the first."

Rachel nodded solemnly and just gave him a quick moment to compose himself before exclaiming, "I think he likes you. I mean like, _really_ likes you, not just like 'oh, he's hot' kind of likes you."

Under any other circumstances, Kurt would ponder over Rachel's lack of vocabulary. But as it was, he just stared at her, finding it next to impossible to grasp what she was saying.

"I saw the way he looks at you," she said, much softer than before. "And I mean he stared at you the entire lunch like he was trying to send you a telepathic message to look back at him."

Kurt opened his mouth to object, but Rachel cut him off.

"No Kurt, I'm serious. I mean I know it sounds crazy, and it's still _Sebastian _we are talking about, but I can recognize that look from anywhere, and if you think about it, you will too. And you can do whatever you want, and I really don't know why you're angry with him and so on, but I think you should talk to him."

Kurt sighed. Rachel Berry was telling him to give Sebastian Smythe a chance and to talk to him. Goodness, this was the weirdest trip he had ever been on _by far_, and he was counting all the trips with the New Directions.

With that, the two friends left the bathroom and went back.

"I'm still gonna burn three sweaters as soon as possible, Rachel," Kurt reminded her, as they walked to the table.

"You're all done?" Rachel asked brightly, completely ignoring what Kurt just said.

"Eh, yeah, I think so," Finn said, looking at the empty plate before him. At that, Kurt had to wonder if Sebastian did _anything_ else but eat while he and Rachel were gone.

"And you're already full, right Kurt?" Rachel asked in that intense way that she tended to do when she wanted a certain answer.

"I guess..."

"Great! Me too, so we can go back now." She took her plate and placed it where the guests were supposed to leave their dishes and then walked out, dragging Finn along with her. Kurt didn't really know what to do with her, so he just hurried and followed. He was certain that he felt Sebastian's stare at the back of his head, but he didn't really dare to look at the other boy, afraid of what would happen if he did so.

Once everyone (including Sebastian) was outside and started to walk to the car, Rachel suddenly tugged Finn's hand, pulling him along in the opposite direction.

"I just realised that I _really_ want to check the shop out before we go!" she explained. "Finn, come with me, you guys can wait by the car!" And just like that, she was gone, pulling a baffled Finn with her and leaving Kurt to wonder just how strong this tiny girl was.

He closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself to meet Sebastian, but before he really got the chance to turn around and bite the bullet, he felt a hand on his arm, warm in the summer breeze.

"Just," he heard Sebastian say behind him, "just look at me, will you?"

He would have done it otherwise too, but something in the hesitant question made Kurt spin around quickly, his stomach full of butterflies for some reason. One glance was all it took and then he knew _exactly_ what Rachel was talking about. Yes, he'd seen that look before, so painfully familiar it almost hurt.

That look of being lost but calm at the same time, tense yet relaxed all at once was the one he had seen far too many times whenever he had looked in the mirror; he had worn it whenever he had looked at Finn freshman and sophomore years, Sam for short period of time at the beginning of the junior year, and finally Blaine before they finally got together and perhaps even after that. He had seen it on Rachel countless times too –– but never once had he seen it directed toward him, not until now. That look of hopelessly falling in love.

The butterflies in his gut turned into warm electricity, and he turned around properly, standing only a few feet in front of Sebastian. He let his hands come to rest on Sebastian's chest and _damn_, he was so warm and solid and muscular and hot, and he was _looking at him_ like _that_, and Kurt was sure that he had the same look in his eyes right now, it certainly _felt_ so, but for once it was _fine_.

"I," Kurt began but _fuck_, his heart was pounding so rapidly in his chest and words seemed to hard to use right now, but he tried again. "I wasn't perhaps so fair to you before," he mumbled.

Something close to a smile flickered over Sebastian's face, and Kurt could actually feel Sebastian's heart beating rapidly as well under his hand; it was really assuring.

"No, you were right, it's just," Sebastian broke off, looking away, and Kurt waited. "It's just that no one really took the time to understand why I'm such an arse; people just assume that I am and then that's that, which is sort of true, but you just kept poking around like you always thought that there was more to it."

It really wasn't funny at all, but Kurt chuckled anyway at how Sebastian called himself an arse, and Kurt _really_ didn't know where his courage came from, but he reached up and cupped Sebastian's cheek, gently turning his head, so their eyes met once more.

"Hey, I said fucktard, didn't I?" he asked playfully and felt a relief when Sebastian started to smile.

"Oh sorry, my bad," Sebastian said fondly. "Why I'm such a _fucktard_."

They just stood there and grinned at their private joke together, but then Sebastian took a deep breath, and Kurt knew that he had more to say.

"It's just," Sebastian started, closing his eyes this time, and Kurt didn't like how he was hiding himself away, so he tried to comfort him the best way he could and just pulled Sebastian's head down to rest on the crook of his neck that he seemed to fond of, while Kurt wrapped his arms around the taller boy's shoulders. He felt Sebastian's arms come to rest around Kurt's waist and pull him closer, and they were officially hugging in a parking lot.

"It's just that it's terrifying to start walking when I don't know where to go," Sebastian whispered against his neck, and Kurt tightened his grip.

"You can go wherever you want, Sebastian, just pick and chose, and if it doesn't fit you then just change the direction," he whispered back. "Just don't stand there and let your life go past you, you'll regret it –– and, if you want me to, I'll walk beside you."

"I want you to," Sebastian said, pulling back and looked at Kurt, his eyes so bright that Kurt felt his insides just melt a little. "Can, can I kiss you?" he asked, and the question took Kurt completely by surprise. He felt his face blush furiously, but then he couldn't hold back a smile.

"I think we passed the point where you need to ask after you knew how to make my coffee," he said and then kissed Sebastian himself.

* * *

_A/N: The story doesn't tell, but there was actually a middleage woman in one of the stalls in the ladies restroom, who listened to Kurt and Rachel's __**entire**__ conversation. I'm not kidding._


	23. Epilogue

Because I personally _hate_ it when authors put long end notes at the end of a chapter, regarding something they could have said in the beginning, and as a consequence of this fooling the reader into believing that there's more of the fic/chapter than there actually is, I'll post my end notes and special thanks here in the beginning.

The title _Life is a Road (I Want to Keep Going)_ comes from the song _At the Beginning_ with Richard Marx and Donna Lewis –– so of course I declared it the theme song and just made Kurt and Sebastian listen to it on the radio and talk about _Anastasia_ (because in case you didn't know this already, _At the Beginning_ is on the soundtrack to that film). It seemed very appropriate to do so since I pretty much got the whole idea for LIAR from re-watching _Anastasia _at the end of summer last year. The idea of Kurtbastian on a road trip was new and unexplored just then (maybe a month after the bunny hit me, people started to write drabbles and ficlets about Kurtbastian!roadtrips –– all of which I avoided because I didn't want get influenced), and while the bunny was born out of inspiration from _Anastasia_ it didn't mean it had to be _anything_ like the film. In fact, I pointedly dismissed all ideas that looked like a Kurtbastian version of the film, because while that is still a fun idea, it's not what I wanted.

When I realised that "life is a road" becomes "liar" when only writing the first letters, I was mortified for perhaps a day or so, before I embraced the irony and laughed because _no_, I would most certainly _not_ change the name of my story just because its initials says that my whole deeper meaning is a lie/calls me a liar. And besides, on the up-side, it's really easy to just was "LIAR" unlike so many other fics where I say the actual titles instead, because it's _easier_ than four consonants in a row.

Like seemingly everything I write, this bunny grew into being a lot longer than I had expected it to; it a story under only a couple of days, yet it managed to become _this big_. Feel free to throw potatoes at me.

Now, **special thanks:**

First of all –– thank you Bruder for catching this bunny before it ran away, just like you always seem to do, and thanks for sitting there with me over the phone and discussing travel plans and reasons to where-why-what'n'_how _at the early (the _first_) plotting stage. Really, this story would be so hollow without you.

Thank you to hummelsmythe for the amazing fan art, it was really fun to see my words and situations turn into a picture; especially since you picked one of my favourite scenes XD

Big, massive, HUGE _[with hugs and kisses in detached file] _thank you to Olinka, my most awesome beta reader who made order of my messy bunny and always so wise and sharp. Seriously, you are truly a fantastic beta and you made me use Google Doc (I had _hell_ trying to publish LIAR before a kind soul told me that you could download the document so that the paragraphs doesn't fuck up like they did when you just went with the copy'n'paste) and I think I gave you quite a chuckle at least when I started to write about miles (_I use the metric system, miles are foreign to me. As are automatic gearboxes_). I really can't thank you enough for your help and input, and your assistance is so appreciated 3

Last –– but certainly not least –– _Thank you, Froggy!_ Thanks for all the French translations (because in cause you readers didn't know this already; I do _not_ speak French at all, and nor did I use Google Translate in this fic, because that's just doomed to getting it wrong), and thank you for being my wall to lean on and throw balls at, thank you for all the pep-talks and for staying up with me until late at night before deadline and making me write the last chapters. Thank you for being excited over LIAR and loving it from the start and for swallowing every sneak peak I gave you, really just thankyouthankyouthankyou 3

* * *

Looking back, he would never have guessed that his life would take the direction that it did –– would probably not have appreciated it either. He had never wanted to leave his Paris, and in all honesty, he still clenched his jaw when he remembered the anger and the feeling of being utterly lost when he suddenly was to call the country he had only visited every now and then 'home'.

But with the United States of America came Kurt Hummel, and there was no denying that.

Never, ever, would he had found his way if it wasn't for Kurt; that remarkable boy who just kept surprising him and who always kept him on his toes, in all good will. And yeah, to himself, and maybe to his parents (who undoubtedly would exhale a breath of relief, he wasn't ignorant) he could admit that he had to get a move on, even though he couldn't see where the road led, he knew that it was better than waiting for a train.

Suddenly, it had actually dawned to him that he didn't need a vehicle to go somewhere, to just start walking instead of waiting for that train that he knew would never come. It actually seemed possible.

If life really was like a road then he knew, deep down inside of him, that with Kurt by his side, he wanted to keep going.


End file.
